Forgotten Memories
by Steel Fairy
Summary: Part 2 in the FRtR canon. Sonic's past prior to Dr. Eggman's attack on South Island has always been a mystery to him. However, when Dr. Eggman attacks on Sonic's nineteenth birthday, he reveals some information that sends Sonic and anyone close to him into shock. Now Sonic needs to figure out what it means for his past and future. SonicxMario. Complete.
1. Birthday Celebrations

**AN: And this is what happens when I can't sleep the night before my birthday. I guess I was just that excited knowing that I was getting Splatoon 2 this morning. Honestly, I didn't want to write a sequel to _From Rivalry to Romance_ until after Super Mario Odyssey and Sonic Forces were released, but this idea's been bugging me since before I finished the first story, and suddenly last night I had written an outline and a couple of chapters. I don't know how it happened either, insomnia apparently inspires me.  
**

 **Anyway, like stated above this is indeed a sequel to _From Rivalry to Romance,_ though fair warning going into this is that it's going to be significantly darker than it's predecessor. I know this first chapter is lighthearted, but I assure you it won't stay like that for long. There's also going to be some heavily suggestive content as another warning.  
**

 **As per tradition with multi-chaptered fics of mine, reviews will be responded to at the end of every chapter. And no, there won't be a consistent schedule for this fanfic either, but like with _Throughout the Years_ I'm hoping to have a chapter out each month. **

**Anyway, with all that out of the way, all I ask is that you please enjoy and let me know your thoughts!**

* * *

 _ **Italics =**_ **Flashback**

* * *

 _~Forgotten Memories~_

 _/~/_

 _~Chapter One: Birthday Celebrations~_

 _His thoughts were incoherent; fuzzy. His head throbbed; groaning he opened his eyes, putting a hand up to shield his face from the sun burning his retinas. Confused he glanced around, discovering that he was in the cockpit of a plane - his plane? It had to be..._

 _He heard commotion around him, and groggily sitting up noticed that quite a few local animals had swarmed around the plane wreckage, chattering amongst themselves in confusion. He could relate - he had no idea where he was either._

 _One of the animals - a squirrel - bounded up to him._

 _"Are you alright? What's your name?" she asked._

 _He opened his mouth to reply, but found he couldn't for two reasons. One, no matter how hard he thought about it he couldn't recall his name, and even if he did he seemed to lack the ability to vocally say it._

/~/

Sonic woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed with the dream dissolving like soap bubbles. He frowned as he turned his head to check the time, that was the third time this month he'd had dreams about his crash-landing on South Island. He blinked as he squinted at the neon numbers - 7:30 a.m. Time to get up, though it wasn't as if Sonic minded. This was the one day of the year he preferred to wake up early.

After making himself presentable, Sonic made his way down the hallway and chuckled at the sight in front of him. Tails had passed out at his workbench again, his head resting on top of the blueprints for the teleporter adjustment he was making. Sonic crept over and shook the fox's shoulder.

"Hey buddy, it's mornin'."

Tails groaned in his sleep, opening his eyes and glancing around in a daze before seemingly remembering what day it was. "Oh, Sonic! Happy birthday! I'm sorry you woke up before me, I was working on the teleporter adjustment and I almost have it figured out and I really wanted it done in time for today and-"

Sonic placed a hand over Tails' mouth in order to quiet him down. "It's fine buddy, don't worry 'bout it. As long as I'm able to speak with Mar today I'll be happy."

"Okay..." Tails then brightened, grinning widely. "But anyway, did you want to do anything special for your birthday?"

"I kinda just wanna go for a run right now..." Sonic admitted. "But if I think of somethin' I'll let ya know!"

"Okay!" Tails chirped, going back to his work.

"An' make sure to eat somethin'!" Sonic called as he slipped out the door and felt the morning breeze ruffle his quills. ' _Though I'm one to talk...'_

Standing out in the field Sonic closed his eyes, deeply inhaling the clean air before opening his eyes again and sprinting in the direction the wind took him, which happened to be south today. A laugh escaped his lips as he felt the breeze whip through his quills as he eyed a hill off in the distance. Perfect - that would be his first checkpoint, and then he'd decide where to go from there.

Making his way up to the top of the hill, Sonic stopped and took in the sight that greeted him, a smile gracing his face as he gazed out at the beautiful landscape. Pristine and perfect - the way it should be. The rooftops from the buildings in Station Square caught Sonic's attention, and after mulling his options over in his head he decided that a trip out to the city would be good for him.

A normal person would have taken the skytrain in order to get from the Mystic Ruins to Station Square. To Sonic though, that was too boring. He found that running there was a lot more fun, and smirking took off in the direction of the city they were slowly reconstructing after Chaos' attack all those years ago. Zipping through the streets, Sonic was about to turn a corner when a voice caught his attention.

"Oh, happy birthday Mr. Sonic!"

Skidding to a stop, Sonic smiled at Cream the Rabbit and her mother Vanilla, who had just exited the grocery store. Even though Cream was now a young teenager, she retained the same kindness and politeness she'd held as a child.

"Aw, thanks!" Sonic grinned, ruffling Cream's short hair. Her Chao, Cheese, flew up to Sonic and affectionately nuzzled against the side of his face before hovering next to his owner.

"Do you have any big plans for today?" Vanilla asked, Sonic shaking his head.

"Nah, I don't think so, unless Tails decided to throw me a surprise party again. Though, since the whole 'Time Eater' thing happened, somethin' tells me that's not the case."

"I remember that!" Cream announced. "That was really scary, but I was brave!"

"You sure were!" Sonic exclaimed. "Y'know, I'd love to stay and chat longer, but I'm kinda on my mornin' run..."

"Oh, don't let us keep you then," Vanilla smiled, taking Cream by the hand.

"Goodbye, Mr. Sonic!" Cream brightly sang, Cheese waving before heading after his owner and Vanilla. Smirking, Sonic took off running yet again... only to bump into Amy a few minutes later.

"Happy birthday, Sonic!" she called, Sonic once again halting in order to greet his friend.

"Heh, thanks Ames."

Thanks to Sonic being in the Super Smash Brothers and not aging there, him and Amy were around the same age now, her quills having grown out to her mid-back and dip-dyed a light purple. Not only that, but she'd matured quite a bit since her younger years, having moved on from her crush on Sonic and surprisingly dating Silver instead.

"So, how's Tails' machine going?" Amy asked.

"He said somethin' about wanting to have it done for today, but he's runnin' into some issues I think."

"Oh, what a shame!" Amy pouted. "Well, let me know when it's up and running. I really want to see Peach and Daisy again, and I know for a fact that you miss Mario."

At the sound of his boyfriend's name, Sonic's heart fluttered for a moment before he composed himself. "Yeah, I miss him, but at least we get to stay in contact. How are things with you an' Silver?"

"Good," Amy replied, a bright smile on her face. "That's actually who I was going to meet right now, so I kind of have to go."

"Alright. I'll see you around!"

Waving, Amy headed off in the direction of Twinkle Park, as Sonic continued his morning run. Emerald Coast seemed like a good place to go, and smirking headed off towards the sandy beach where he'd rescued Tails from his plane crash all those years ago. It sure brought back some memories...

Sonic skidded to a stop and glanced around at the beach. It hadn't changed much in the years that had passed, and thankfully Chaos' attack hadn't done any major damage to the area. Taking a deep breath of salty air, Sonic fell back onto the warm sand and stared up at the blue sky above.

"I wonder if Mar likes the beach," Sonic murmured to himself, before allowing his thoughts to drift to Mario. He didn't have Mario's golden coin on him; he'd lent it to Tails so he could modify his teleporter, while Mario had done the same with Professor E. Gadd. However, he knew Tails would let him talk to his boyfriend on his birthday, and Professor E. Gadd was likely to do the same.

It sure was comfy down here on the beach. Allowing himself to relax, Sonic began to study the faint wisps of clouds above him. He'd always enjoyed finding shapes and making pictures in the sky, no matter how childish that may have seemed to others. As a cloud Sonic thought was shaped a little like a Chaos Emerald floated by, he heard the familiar sound of his two-tailed little brother approaching. Sitting up he found Tails flying towards him, wide grin on his face.

"I almost got it to work!" he exclaimed, Sonic's face lighting up at the new development.

"Really? Mar can actually be here for my birthday?"

"I think so!" Tails exclaimed. "Come on, let's go back to the Mystic Ruins!"

/~/

"Okay, so I just have to make a final adjustment..."

Sonic tapped his foot on the ground as he watched Tails mess with his invention. He was anxious to see Mario again, and he resisted the urge to tell Tails to hurry it up, even though he knew that Tails needed a few more minutes.

"Gotta connect the wires here," Tails mumbled, securing a handful of wires with electrical tape. "And now all we need to do is give it some juice!"

"Grape or orange?" Sonic joked, Tails giving his brother an exasperated look.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" he exclaimed, plugging his invention into a socket in the wall. Almost immediately the device whirred to life, Sonic looking at in in awe. No matter what it was, Tails' inventions never failed to impress him.

"Now, I need you to contact Mario so that we can see if this will actually work," Tails explained. "Professor E. Gadd apparently has his device done as well, and I know that Mario was going to stay at his laboratory because E. Gadd has your ring and Mario really wanted to talk to you today."

Sonic smiled at that statement, plucking the coin from it's place on Tails' workbench. Closing his eyes he concentrated on speaking to Mario, and soon enough the item was engulfed in a blue light, a hologram of Mario appearing after a brief moment.

"Happy birthday, Sonic!" Mario immediately exclaimed, Sonic smiling and giving a short laugh at the statement.

"Thanks Mar. Tails says that you're with Professor E. Gadd. Is that true?"

"Very true!" Professor E. Gadd said, walking into view. "And we'll just cut the connection soon so that we can get this fellow over to your world!"

"Are you ready, Professor E. Gadd?" Tails asked, Professor E. Gadd nodding.

"I sure am! Hopefully this works out and this fellow here will arrive wholly intact! We don't want another incident."

Sonic couldn't help but snicker as Mario's face paled as Professor E. Gadd said those words. "Wait, what?" he cried as the connection went dead, Sonic handing the coin off to Tails.

"So I just need to place this here..." Tails murmured, setting the coin down on a small metal plate. The machine sparked once again, Tails stepping back to admire his work. "And now all we need to do is pull this lever... and if things have gone according to plan then you'll be able to spend your birthday with Mario!"

Sonic tried to hide his excitement, but it was difficult to as Tails pulled the lever, the machine whirring and sparking as it crackled to life, a blinding white light engulfing the entire thing; forcing Sonic to cover his eyes. When the light subsided, Sonic's heart lept and he couldn't keep the grin off of his face even if he tried.

"Mar..."


	2. Sonic's World

**AN: Happy Sonic Mania launch day, everyone! To celebrate, here's a chapter that has absolutely nothing to do with Sonic Mania in the slightest! But I had this chapter done, so why not, right? I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

 _ **Italics =**_ **Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Two: Sonic's World~_

 _He remembered his first encounter with the doctor very well. He recalled how it felt as though the temperature had dropped on South Island, and all of his animal buddies had scurried away as a small portable aircraft hovered in the sky. And even though he had no idea who this man was, he wasn't going to allow him to harm his home and the animals who had become his friends over the past few months. It was during this time he discovered his true potential - how fast he could actually run and how he loved how it allowed him complete and total freedom.  
_

 _"That was so cool!" one of his friends exclaimed when he'd returned back to the small village. "Thank you for chasing him away for us!"_

 _He'd nodded, but his gut feeling told him that wouldn't be the last time he'd be seeing the intrusive villain._

 _"You're so fast," another one of his friends murmured in awe. "And I think I know what we can call you! Since you run at supersonic speeds, how about we call you Sonic?"_

 _The hedgehog considered the name for a brief moment before grinning and giving his friends a thumbs-up._

 _"So it's settled then! From this moment on you'll be known as Sonic the Hedgehog!"_

/~/

Mario didn't have much time to register the fact that he was no longer in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore when Sonic pulled him into a kiss, the action startling him so badly that he nearly fell over, but he regained composure and brought Sonic in closer to himself. They would have continued - it _had_ been quite some time since they'd seen each other after all - until Tails cleared his throat uncomfortably, Sonic breaking the kiss and glancing over at his little brother who had his eyes on the ground, his muzzle beet red; clearly flustered.

"Please save that for when I'm not around!" he pleaded, Sonic rolling his eyes while Mario nodded.

"Sorry Tails," Mario apologized, Tails giving an awkward smile before leaving the room in order to let the two lovers reconnect after their time spent apart.

"Hi," Sonic murmured, wrapping his arms around Mario's neck and leaning up to kiss him again. "I missed you."

"I never would have guessed from that display," Mario quipped. "I missed you too, but maybe next time we can spare your brother the embarrassment of seeing us kiss."

"Oh please, he should be happy that's all we're doin' in front of him."

At that statement Mario cleared his throat, his face tinting pink. "I really hope he's out of earshot right now."

"Relax, will ya? Now c'mon," grabbing Mario's hand in his own, Sonic yelled to Tails that they were heading out before opening the door of the house, stepping out into the warm Mystic Ruins. "I got a lot of things to show ya, and we're burnin' daylight!"

"It's still morning though," Mario observed, looking at the sky.

 _"Whatever,"_ Sonic emphasized, bringing Mario around the side of the house to the garage. "So the first thing I need to show you is right in here actually."

Opening the door, Sonic immediately bypassed Tails' plane and grinned as he approached a blue sports car, placing a hand on the hood as he turned to face Mario. "This is my baby, the Sonic Speedster," he proudly announced, as Mario inspected the vehicle.

"This is a nice car," he finally said, surprise evident in his tone. "When you said you owned one, this wasn't what I expected at all. And you race with this?"

"Yep!" Sonic continued brightly. "An' if that isn't enough, it also transforms into a boat an' a plane!"

"How fast does it go?" Mario questioned, Sonic snickering and running a hand through his quills.

"As fast as I need it to go. It's not as fast as me obviously, but it gets the job done."

"I should really invite you to go karting with us sometime."

"I'll consider it," Sonic said, giving the hood of the car one last pat before leading Mario out of the garage. "Next, I wanna show you Station Square. Normally I'd just run there, but for you I suppose we can take the skytrain. Even if it is too slow."

"Good to see you're just as impatient as always." Mario commented as him and Sonic climbed the stairs that led to the skytrain station. Paying for a couple of tickets they sat down on one of the benches and Sonic turned to Mario with a glare.

"I'm not _always_ impatient," he huffed, folding his arms.

"Yes you are," Mario teased, Sonic sticking his tongue out childishly before grinning. The skytrain pulled into the station and with a hiss the doors slid open, Mario and Sonic boarding with a few other passengers. Taking a seat near the middle, the doors shut and the journey began.

Mario watched out the window, amazed, taking in the new sights around him. Sonic's world was quite pretty, and Sonic chuckled as he watched Mario's eyes grow wide with excitement as they passed by several zones that Sonic could remember running through.

"And you've been to all of those places?" Mario questioned, Sonic nodding in confirmation.

"Sure have, an' I'm not plannin' on stoppin' anytime soon!"

"Incredible," Mario murmured as the skytrain pulled into the station, Sonic standing and taking Mario by the hand.

"I have a feelin' that you're gonna love it here," Sonic declared, a smirk in his voice as they exited the station and into the suburban area. "Welcome to Station Square, Mar."

Mario glanced around, curious, at the new sights around him. The sights of the skyscrapers along with the busy traffic reminded him of Doppel, and Sonic's smirk grew wider as he clasped Mario's hand in his and began to lead him through the busy streets.

"'Kay, so there's a lot of things to show you around here, so we should probably start at Emerald Coast, then we'll go past Twinkle Park to get to Speed Highway, where I wanna take ya to this real rad music shop that I love."

"Lead the way," was Mario's only reply as Sonic dragged him off in the direction of Emerald Coast.

/~/

Sonic, as Mario found out, really liked being a tour guide. After several hours Sonic finally caught onto the fact that Mario was somewhat exhausted, so they found a bench in a park in Station Square to rest on. Sonic snickered as Mario caught his breath. "Man, I had no idea that just a little tour would take so much outta ya."

"You're moving at such a fast pace, it's hard to keep up with you. And that was _not_ a little tour."

Rolling his eyes, Sonic spied a chili dog stand and abruptly stood, turning to Mario. "You want anythin' from the stand over there?"

"Hm?" Mario glanced over at the food stand, before shaking his head. "No, I'm fine."

"Suit yourself."

As Sonic zipped over to the food stand, Mario took the opportunity to glance around Station Square once again. He heard laughter, and turning his head towards the sound found it was coming from a young puppy and what he presumed were her parents. The thing was, her father was a human while her mother was a dog, and as Sonic waltzed back over his eyes followed Mario's, seemingly knowing exactly what Mario was going to ask. "That little girl's adopted, just in case you were wonderin'."

"How do you know?"

Taking a bite of his chili dog, Sonic chewed and swallowed before answering. "See, while human an' anthro relationships are common, the two species can't actually breed with each other. There's been a ton of scientific research done on the topic, and a lot of non-scientific research if you catch my drift," pausing, Sonic added. "However, there have been researchers who have theorized that it may be possible if the baby was created in a synthetic environment instead of through natural means."

"Like if there was help from an outside source?" Mario questioned, Sonic nodding his head.

"Yeah, like that. However, nothing's ever actually become of it, and I highly doubt it will. I think you'd have to be some kind of super genius mad scientist in order to make somethin' like that work. But in the end, it's probably for the best. At least the adoption rates are up here because of it."

Mario nodded, letting the new information sink in. Polishing off the rest of his chili dog, Sonic tossed the wrapper into a nearby trash can and turned towards Mario. "So, anythin' else you wanna see, or should we head back to the Mystic Ruins?"

"Did you want to show me anything else?" Mario questioned, Sonic pondering on the question for a moment.

"No, I think we got all the bases covered. Headin' back to the Mystic Ruins is probably our best bet. C'mon, let's get movin'."

/~/

"Tails?" Sonic called as he opened the door to the house, stepping inside with Mario in tow. "Buddy? You home?"

After taking a quick glance around the house, Sonic shrugged and turned to Mario. "Looks like we've got the place to ourselves." flopping down on the couch, he motioned for Mario to join him.

"So I did get you something for your birthday," Mario admitted, producing a small present from his overalls pocket. "It's nothing big, but I thought of you when I saw it..."

"Aw, you didn't hafta get me anythin', Mar! Just you bein' here was enough of a present for me!" Sonic still took the present however, tearing off the paper and gently lifting it up to admire it in the light. Suspended by a black cord was a guitar pick, turquoise and purple in colour. Sonic stared at it, mesmerized for a moment, before fastening it around his neck, the pick hanging just below his collarbone.

"So you like it?" Mario guessed in a tone that indicated he already knew the answer. Sonic nodded before leaning in to kiss him, wrapping his arms around his neck before breaking away.

"Yeah, I like it," Sonic confirmed.

"Was there anything else you wanted to do today?" Mario asked, Sonic smirking as he leaned in closer to Mario again, pushing him down onto the couch cushions and straddling him.

"D'you really hafta ask?" he murmured, kissing along Mario's jawline as his hands traveled down to the buttons on his overalls. Before they could go any further, an explosion sounded from outside, the two heroes exchanging a glance of confusion. Another explosion went off a few moments later, and Sonic's eyes narrowed.

"Eggman," he growled, springing up from the couch and looking out the window. Sure enough, he could see smoke coming from Station Square, his hands balling into fists and his entire form shaking.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Mario asked, joining Sonic at the window. Mulling it over for a moment, Sonic nodded.

"Sure, why not? That'll teach him not to attack when it's my birthday and I'm tryin' to have an intimate moment with my boyfriend," turning to Mario, Sonic folded his arms. "You can't run as fast as me, so we'll have to take my car. I know from past experiences that the skytrain to Station Square gets shut down if there's an emergency. You cool with that?"

"Can we even get to Station Square from here?"

"Yeah, with my transforming car," Sonic repeated in slight annoyance, disappearing upstairs momentarily to grab his keys before bolting outside, Mario following close behind. Together they got into the car, Sonic starting it up and revving the engine once before tearing out of the garage, eyes set on Station Square.

They only hoped they wouldn't be too late.

* * *

 ** _Replies_**

 **TheGameNguyener:** Oh, flashbacks are incredibly vital to the plot, and there's going to be at least one at the beginning of each chapter. And no, our heroes really aren't in for anything good in the slightest, because I'm apparently evil. All I'll really say is poor Sonic. Poor, poor Sonic. Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **Silver1612:** Aw, I'm glad you liked this story's predecessor, and I hope you like this one too! Yes, there will be emphasis on Sonic's past, and like I said above, poor Sonic. Thank you for the review!


	3. Attack on Station Square

_**Italics**_ **= Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Three: Attack on Station Square~_

 _His suspicions about the man returning had been confirmed a few months later, only this time around he'd made a point of capturing all of Sonic's friends and trapping them in capsules; scattering them throughout South Island and the surrounding zones. Using his newfound speed Sonic tore through the zones like they were nothing, freeing his friends and managing to defeat the man responsible yet again.  
_

 _He'd learned the man's name then - Dr. Robotnik. And it was then he decided that his sole purpose in life was to make sure nothing like this ever happened in the world again. He was going to fight for peace, and nothing was going to stop him.  
_

 _/~/_

The first thing Mario learned about being a passenger in Sonic's car was that the radio was too loud and Sonic refused to turn it down even slightly. Instead of the rock music that was blasting from the speakers when they first entered the car however, Sonic had changed it to a news station where they were covering Eggman's attack on Station Square so they could plan their counterattack accordingly.

The second thing Mario learned was that Sonic drove incredibly recklessly. Even though the car was in it's transformed boat state at the moment, Sonic still acted as though they were on pavement instead of water. Mario gripped the edge of the seat as Sonic sharply drifted around the corner, accelerating once they were on a straight path again.

He was beginning to have second thoughts about asking Sonic to go karting with him and his friends.

"We're almost there," Sonic finally spoke after not saying anything on the trip to Station Square. Pulling a lever the boat somehow managed to transform back into a car with both of them still inside it. Skidding to a stop in a parking lot, Sonic hopped out followed by Mario who was happy to be out of the car, though he frowned as he noticed Sonic had parked horizontally across several spaces.

"Do you always drive like this?" Mario finally questioned as they began to head towards the entrance of Station Square. Sonic turned, giving Mario a peeved look.

"Have you never seen an action movie before? You're supposed to be as reckless as possible so that it looks cool an' everyone forgets about how terrible the plot actually is!"

"This isn't an action movie," Mario pointed out.

"No, this is a fanfiction where all logic is thrown out the window in order to focus on a romance that wasn't actually in the original canon, an' never will be 'cause our shared franchise is aimed at children an' most people tend to forget that. Even still, the author needs to stop lyin' to herself an' admit that she ships us unironically at this point, 'cause she's not foolin' anyone anymore."

Mario blinked, looking like he was going to say something before he shook his head and stayed quiet. He'd learned it was best to not question Sonic.

G.U.N. agents had already started showing up, but Sonic and Mario bypassed them and headed into the city, noticing a few Badniks milling about in the streets. Turning to Mario, Sonic jabbed his thumb at them. "Let's take 'em out, shall we?"

Nodding, the two heroes faced down their robotic opponents, springing into action a moment later. Sonic curled into a spindash, steamrolling through a line of Badniks like they were nothing but paper. He knew why; Badniks were mass produced and meant to be more of an annoyance than an actual threat. Meanwhile Mario tossed out several fireballs before going hands-on with the enemies, punching and kicking through them as mechanical parts flew out. Sonic sprinted back over to where Mario was, the two of them exchanging a high-five before focusing their attention on their actual opponent who was hovering above them in his aircraft.

"You just don't give up, do ya?" Sonic called up to him, folding his arms and sneering at his arch-enemy.

"You little _pest,"_ Eggman growled, glaring down at Sonic. "Always ruining my plans!"

"Me? Ruinin' your plans?" Sonic shot back incredulously. "Dude, it's my birthday today an' you kinda ruined my plans!"

"Oh please. All your plans consisted of was spending time with that boyfriend of yours."

"And what's wrong with that?" Mario finally spoke up, mirroring Sonic's stance.

"You'll wish you'd never shown up to this battle," Eggman threatened. "I wasn't anticipating two of you showing up, but no matter. I'll just have twice as much fun defeating you!"

The ground rumbled beneath Mario and Sonic, and turning found themselves face to face with what looked like a robotic spider. Eggman's aircraft lowered into the top of the robot and immediately a reticle locked onto Sonic, the laser beam coming from a single eye in the middle of the robot's face.

"I'll keep the robot distracted! You focus on findin' a way to destroy it!" Sonic shouted to Mario before circling the robot, a series of explosions following him as Eggman tried to blast Sonic into oblivion. Mario meanwhile lept up onto one of the spiders legs, before summoning his fire and sending an inferno of flames down onto two of the spiders legs, temporarily disabling it.

"Good job!" Sonic called as he homing attacked the cockpit, a small explosion knocking Mario from his perch. Sonic helped him up before they both lept into action again, this time Eggman targeting Mario as he'd been the one to disable the robot. As Mario lept out of the way of the lasers, Sonic curled into a spindash and plowed into the side of the robot, knocking it off balance and letting Mario attack the cockpit with a ground-pound.

Another explosion came from the robot as it slowly began to malfunction, Mario and Sonic taking the opportunity to hit the robot one final time with a unified spindash and ground-pound; the force of the attack enough to completely destroy it in a shower of sparks and machinery. Exchanging a fist bump at their victory, Sonic turned to Eggman who was hunched on the ground; hands balled into fists.

"Aw, looks like you've got no toys left Egghead!" Sonic called out to him. As him and Mario casually dusted themselves off, Sonic continued. "Y'know, maybe next time you should think before-"

He was cut off as Eggman began to laugh, lifting his head facing his enemy. "You really think you've won this time? Guess again."

The ground rumbled yet again, and a new robot emerged from somewhere deeper in the city along with a fleet of Badniks. It was at this point Mario and Sonic realized that the spider robot had just been a warm-up, this was their real test.

"So, think you can take on this robot?" Eggman taunted, having somehow made his way up to the cockpit of this new robot. Sonic snickered, a cocky grin on his face.

"I guess you don't know us very well, huh? I took on Dark Gaia and _won,_ and Mar's taken on even more than I have. So I think we can take on your lame-o robot."

"Go on then - give him your worst," Eggman calmly stated, Mario and Sonic wasting no time launching into attack. Sonic once again curled into a spindash and tore across the ground. And even though he knew he'd made contact with the robot, he harmlessly bounced off of the shiny metal and tumbled to the ground below. Meanwhile Mario tossed out several fireballs that barely made any sort of dent, and it was in that moment they both realized that their attacks were doing absolutely nothing.

"That's right, your attacks are useless!" Eggman yelled, pulling a lever which made the robot advance on the two heroes. Gritting his teeth Sonic grabbed Mario's arm and headed towards any sort of shelter, somewhere where they could think up a strategy to take on this new menace.

There was nowhere to run though. And Sonic wasn't about to let Eggman destroy any more of Station Square, so he stopped and turned to Mario, confidence in his eyes.

"Stay here, let me handle this."

"Sonic, what-" Mario began, but didn't get a chance to finish as Sonic broke away from him, sprinting towards the robot at top speed. Curling into yet another spindash Sonic slammed into the robot at full-force, but it still did nothing as Sonic bounced off once again, only this time he'd broken his leg as evidenced by his loud scream of pain.

"Sonic!" Mario called, panic in his tone as Eggman turned his attention towards the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario took a few steps back but his glare didn't waver - if he was going down it wouldn't be without a fight, just like Sonic.

"And you," Eggman snarled. "You are insignificant to me as of this moment, and I expect you to always be insignificant to me. For that reason I won't kill you, but I will do this."

Before Mario had a chance to respond the robot had grabbed him; struggling in it's grasp he glared at Eggman once more before he was slammed back into the ground, feeling his arm break and coughing up blood before his eyes closed and he collapsed. Eggman turned his attention back to Sonic, who had witnessed the entire thing and was struggling to stand.

"You're not going anywhere." Eggman muttered, the robot grabbing ahold of Sonic. Sonic snarled as he tried to wiggle out of it's hold, but his wounds were making it difficult to do anything at this point. His eyes met Eggman's, the doctor calmly watching him before he pressed a button.

A sharp blow to the head was the last thing Sonic remembered, before everything faded to black.

* * *

 _ **Replies**_

 **TheGameNguyener:** Unfortunately Mario's not safe in this story either, he's going to go through trauma as well, though it won't be as bad as what Sonic's going to go through. And that's all I'll say. Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **TemUltimate:** Thank you for two reviews. And also, I'm sorry for making you ship this, wasn't my intention. Thank you for the review!

 **Pamitydesu01:** And I made another person ship this? Once again, I apologize, not my intention. Thank you for the review!

 **Silver1612:** Yep, Eggman's always gotta be there. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Thank you for the review! **  
**

* * *

 **AN:** **As of this day, I've been posting fanfiction for a year. I'd like to take the time here to thank you guys for reading and reviewing my stories, I'm still in shock over the fact that I've received positive reception and that people seem to like my writing; considering the fact that I've been going through _From Rivalry to Romance_ fixing some grammar errors and everything pre-chapter 20 is making me cringe so hard I'm surprised my neck hasn't snapped yet. Seriously, the early chapters were so bad, characterization is off and there's a plot hole I discovered that I don't know how to easily fix. But even with all it's flaws, for some reason it still gained views and follows and positive feedback, so thank you guys so much. It really does mean a lot to me, and I'm going to learn from my mistakes and try to improve even more. **

**Anyway, the spider robot was loosely based off of the Guardians from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, because they had it coming for making early game absolute hell.  
**

 **And since it was brought up twice in the reviews... I've apparently made a few people ship this now? What exactly did I do? I'm really confused and while I do find it somewhat flattering I'd like to know what I did, considering it wasn't my intention in the first place.  
**

 **Anyway, I'll be working on getting more chapters of _Throughout the Years_ out as I've neglected that story since July and I feel bad. The next chapter of this story does have a set release date, sometime next month. You may or may not have figured it out already based on that hint alone. I'll see you guys around!**

 **And, one more thing since it was actually announced this week: I totally called Mario Odyssey and Sonic Forces having close release dates. Sure, it wasn't the same week like I originally thought, but it's still 11 days apart.**

 **~Steel**


	4. Hopelessness

**AN: I know I said I wouldn't update this until next month, but I really want to have this whole story uploaded by the end of the year. And considering that of this chapter we're a third of the way through, and also considering that I have most of the chapters done, I may as well just put them out. And also - there will be some references to _Super Mario Odyssey,_ that is, what we know from trailers and gameplay. So if things end up being a bit off from the actual game, sorry, I'm not psychic. You can yell at me later. Anyway, with my ramblings out of the way, enjoy the next chapter!**

* * *

 _ **Italics**_ **= Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Four: Hopelessness~  
_

 _It was a year later when Sonic decided to leave South Island. Sitting in the cockpit of his newly fixed plane he gazed at the animals who had helped and nurtured him for the last twelve months._

 _"Please don't forget to visit!" one called up to him._

 _"And remember," another one started. "This will always be your home. You can come back and visit anytime you like."_

 _Sonic gave them a wide grin and a thumbs-up before starting the plane, the engine rumbling to life. Sonic gave a friendly wave towards the animals as he took off into the sky above, ready for whatever the rest of his life had in store for him._

/~/

It wasn't until the dead of the night when Mario regained consciousness. Blinking and feeling somewhat groggy, Mario tilted his head and found he was back in Sonic and Tails' shared house in the Mystic Ruins. The fox in question jumped somewhat at the sudden movement, but quickly composed himself and dragged a chair over to sit near Mario.

"You're awake," he breathed. "When I first found you on the street in Station Square, at first glance I thought you were dead. Eggman really must've done a number on you."

"I have a broken arm, right?" Mario murmured, disoriented. Tails nodded in confirmation.

"You do, but I managed to make a cast for you. I know it's not perfect, but at least it's something until you can actually get to a hospital."

Turning, Mario studied the cast on his left arm before shrugging. "It's seems good enough, actually. _Grazie._ " With that Mario slowly sat up, Tails watching him closely.

"Mario..." he began, voice quiet. "Where's Sonic?"

Mario's blood chilled and he looked away from Tails. "I suppose Eggman's finally captured him."

Tails drew in a shaky breath, nodding. "Okay..." he murmured, biting his lower lip as he reached for his Miles Electric. "Knowing Sonic he'll try to find a way to escape himself, but let me see if I can-"

He was cut off by the screen in front of him going to static before a very familiar laugh came from the speakers, Mario and Tails tensing as they knew exactly who it was.

"Eggman," Tails growled as the doctor appeared on the screen, a smug grin on his face.

"Well hello Tails! And Mario, so nice to see you're finally up after my robots attack. He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"

"What do you want, Eggface?" Tails spat.

"Such an attitude," Eggman tutted. "You've been spending too much time with that blue rat. No matter. It won't be like that for long."

"And what do you mean by that?" Mario asked in an even voice, even though he was internally panicking.

Eggman chortled. "See for yourself." With that he panned the camera over to a capsule where Sonic was lying unconscious; the fur on his head matted with dried blood from where he was struck and dark bruises lining his torso and arms from where the robot had grabbed him. Mario's hand clenched into a fist while Tails averted his gaze; trying not to sob or throw up at the gruesome image. The camera panned back to Eggman, still wearing that smug look.

"You're going to regret that," Mario snarled.

"And what exactly are you planning on doing? Coming to rescue him? Because I'll have you know that I've collected all of your DNA, and the barrier around my lair will react to it and disintegrate you on contact."

"You're bluffing!" Tails blurted, Eggman quirking an eyebrow.

"Oh am I now? Then why don't you come over here and find out if I am?"

Tails went silent, Eggman chortling once more before the connection went dead. Mario glanced at Tails, who immediately began pressing buttons on his Miles Electric.

"Let me see if I can hack into his defense system," he muttered, face screwed up in concentration. After a few minutes his ears drooped, and he lowered the Miles Electric with a defeated look on his face. "It's really true. All of it's true. He really has collected all of our DNA and integrated it with the defense system."

Mario wandered over, taking a peek at the screen. Sure enough, he was on that list, along with Tails, Luigi, Peach, Amy, even Birdo and Cream! He momentarily wondered how Eggman had managed to collect their DNA when realization struck him that it must have happened during the Olympics, when they were all out of their rooms. With that in mind Mario came to the conclusion that Bowser had to have been involved with this plot somehow as well, or at least knew of what Eggman was planning.

It was a bit disturbing to think about the fact that Eggman had been planning this attack for quite some time. Wracking his brain, Mario tried to think of what they could do. If only his friends from the Smash Mansion could come into this dimension, surely Eggman wouldn't stand a chance against the likes of Mega Man, Pac-Man, Link or Samus? Heck, even the Rabbids would help in this situation! But they hadn't gotten transportation set up between any other dimension so far, so that was a lost cause...

It was times like these when Mario wished he still had Cappy. Sure, he may have not necessarily liked "capturing" innocent townsfolk as he found it unethical, but it really would have helped at this particular moment.

Something clicked in his brain as he thought about his latest adventure and he glanced at the screen of the Miles Electric again, reading the names over multiple times and realizing that there was one person that wasn't on the list. Someone that Eggman very likely wasn't aware existed. Drawing in a shaky breath, Mario turned to Tails.

"I think I know of a way we can save Sonic."

/~/

Pain.

That was all Sonic could concentrate on as he lay in the capsule. Pain that kept washing over him in waves, and every time he attempted to stand a new wave would hit him so violently that he'd collapse to the ground again, resisting the urge to vomit. His head hurt and his chest ached; it felt like he'd been up against Crazy Hand five times in a row. Not to mention he'd broken his leg by spindashing directly into the robot. At least he finally knew what hell felt like.

Footsteps echoed in the distance, and Sonic didn't even need to look up to know who it was. "Eggman..." he weakly growled, before wincing in pain once again.

Eggman didn't say anything at first, just kept circling Sonic's capsule like he was some sort of zoo attraction. Eventually though he stopped, back turned to Sonic.

"After all these years, I've finally captured you," he started. "And since I knew you'd try to escape, there's a barrier around your capsule that will disintegrate you if you touch it. It's the same barrier keeping your precious _boyfriend_ from coming to rescue you, along with all of your other friends."

Sonic scowled and remained quiet, not wanting to talk to the doctor at this particular moment. Eggman wasn't giving him much of a choice though, as he continued, "You know, you've been such a thorn in my side. I should have finished you off on Christmas Island like I planned to, but _she_ ruined my plans."

"What are you goin' on about, Egghead? Our first battle was on South Island. Remember? Even though I was only eight I still manged to kick your ass into next week."

"So your memory still hasn't returned after all these years."

Sonic's blood ran cold. Even though it was common knowledge to his friends that he had some missing memories, he'd always make sure to discuss it in private, nowhere near enemy robots or anyone that may tip the doctor off. "How do you-"

"Our past runs farther than South Island, Sonic. Or maybe I should call you Maurice, the name your mother gave you. Or perhaps I should refer to you as Operation Needlemouse, what I initially called the experiment in the first place."

Dread filled Sonic's chest and his mouth ran dry. "What-"

Eggman turned to look at Sonic, a sneer on his face. "Well, since you won't be alive for much longer, I may as well tell you." he paused momentarily for a dramatic effect, before uttering three words that made Sonic go completely numb; feeling like he was going to vomit, faint, or both.

"I'm your father."

* * *

 ** _Replies_**

 **TheGameNguyener:** Since fourth wall breaking seemed to go over well in the first story, I figured I may as well keep it as a character trait of Sonic. :) Basically, he's completely aware he's a figment of my imagination based off of a fictional character, while Mario doesn't have a clue. And I teeter between being a shipper and not being a shipper, mainly because people get so crazy about it and that's when I have an issue with it. But anyway, I'm glad you're still enjoying the story, as things just got a lot more interesting! Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **TemUltimate:** Aw, thanks. I'm glad someone thinks so! Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **Pamitydesu01:** Yeah, things certainly got bad, and they just got a lot worse for Sonic! And thank you so much, that means a lot to me. Thank you for the review!

 **Silver1612:** Aw, thank you! And who knows if Sonic will ever be okay again after having that dropped on him. And as for Mario... we'll just have to see! Thank you for the review!


	5. Unexpected Visitors

**_Italics_ = Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Five: Unexpected Visitors~ _

_The doors to the laboratory opened with a hiss; Dr. Robotnik turning to see who his visitor was. A dark purple hedgehog around her mid-twenties sauntered in, tossing her quills behind her shoulder as she glanced around with an unimpressed look before locking eyes with the doctor._

 _"You're Dr. Robotnik, right?" she asked._

 _"Indeed I am. And who might you be?"_

 _"Alison."_

 _"Alright Alison," Robotnik continued. "And why might you be here?"_

 _"I heard through the shady grapevine that you were looking for donors for your new experiment. I'd like to be one."_

 _Robotnik lifted his eyes in shock. "And how exactly did you find out about this?"  
_

 _"I'm an ex-member of the Lightning Bolt Society," Alison replied lightly. "And I found it interesting that you were attempting to create the first Mobian-human hybrid. So if I may, I'd like to be a donor for it."_

 _"The Lightning Bolt Society?" Robotnik questioned. "The organization that's trying to do the exact same thing. Tell me, how were you allowed to leave without them killing you?"  
_

 _"Lucky break, I guess," Alison shrugged. "So look, do you want my help or not?"_

 _"I wasn't expecting anyone to volunteer so quickly..." Robotnik muttered. Wandering over to his desk he grabbed a clipboard and several forms. "I just need you to fill these out and we can get started."_

 _"Sure," Alison replied casually enough, accepting the clipboard and making her way over to a chair, tapping her foot as she filled out the paperwork. After a few minutes she stood and handed the completed files back to Robotnik. "Here."_

 _Quickly flipping through them, Robotnik motioned for Alison to follow him. "If you'll just come this way, please..."_

/~/

"You're not my father," Sonic responded after recovering from the shock, glaring at Eggman. "You know just as well as I do that humans an' anthro's can't breed."

"That may be true... under normal circumstances," Eggman explained. "But if the baby was created in, oh, let's say..."

"A synthetic way..." Sonic mumbled in horror, remembering the conversation he'd had with Mario earlier. He quickly shook his head. "No, you're lying! Scientists have been tryin' to do that for years, an' they've all come up with nothin'!"

"But not everyone has an IQ of 300," Eggman replied calmly, Sonic feeling his heart plummet into his stomach.

"No... no... it's not true! This is part of your plan, tryin' to get in my mind an' mess me up! Well guess again Egghead, 'cause that ain't gonna happen!"

Eggman only shrugged. "Fine. Believe me, don't believe me, it really doesn't matter in the end considering you're not going to be around much longer."

"That's what you think," Sonic snarled. "Just you watch - I'll get out of here somehow. An' then you're gonna wish that you'd never attacked in the first place."

"I'll wish you luck in that," Eggman sarcastically responded, before giving Sonic another cold stare. "You didn't honestly think that your relationship with that plumber was going to work out, did you?"

"Don't bring Mar into this," Sonic spat, though it seemingly fell on deaf ears as Eggman continued.

"He'll outlive you. For every year that passes in the Mushroom Kingdom, two years pass here in this world."

Sonic didn't attempt to argue that point, he knew it was true. Both him and Mario knew of the risks going into this relationship, and unless they ever found a way to live in the same dimension (which was highly unlikely) he knew he was probably going to die before Mario did. But they'd both accepted that fact and decided to enjoy what time they did have with each other.

"Nothing to say?" Eggman taunted. "He'll just find someone else when you're gone."

"I _told_ him to do that!" Sonic finally snapped, managing to pull himself up despite his injuries and leg screaming in protest. "I told him that if I ever died, that he shouldn't mourn for me an' he should find someone else who makes him happy. If you're tryin' to ruin my relationship with Mar, it's not gonna work!"

Eggman hummed. "Such a temper. You didn't get that from me, that's for sure."

"You're still on about that? I told you, I don't believe that you're my father."

Eggman just gave Sonic a cold stare. "Then maybe this will convince you." Wandering over to a remote corner of the room, Eggman rummaged around before he found what he was looking for and returned, placing the items in front of Sonic.

Sonic once again held back the urge to vomit as he stared at the picture Eggman had placed in front of him; two hedgehogs, one an adult with dark purple fur and vibrant green eyes, and the other a child with sky blue fur and eyes that hadn't turned their proper colour yet. As much as Sonic wanted to deny it, he recognized the little hedgehog as himself, not to mention the eyes on the older hedgehog were his own. Swallowing the bile he felt rising in his throat, he turned his eyes toward the other item; a worn journal with the words 'Operation Needlemouse' scrawled on the cover.

Eggman noticed the change in Sonic's eyes, and laughing went to leave. "I'll be seeing you later, _son."_

With that Eggman exited the room, leaving Sonic to gaze at the photo and journal a moment longer before collapsing to the ground again, no emotion present on his face.

/~/

Since Mario had no place to stay, Tails suggested that Mario stay in Sonic's room for the night. Taking a quick glance around, Mario noticed how barren the room was, save for the bed, a dresser and a chair. He knew it was because Sonic didn't like to stay in one place for long, a wandering free spirit who did what he wanted when he wanted. While some may have found that trait to be a bit of an annoyance, it was one of the things Mario found endearing about him.

Stepping farther into the room, Mario saw Sonic's guitar case propped against one of the walls, and momentarily wondered if Sonic was still practicing. Pinned to the wall above the bed were several photos, and he curiously glanced at them, smiling at what he saw.

While most of the photos were of Sonic's friends like Tails, Blaze and Knuckles, there were a few of his friends from the Smash Mansion as well. Mega Man, Pac-Man, Pit, Red... and him. Specifically, a selfie that he very clearly remembered Sonic taking. He'd just been walking down a hallway in the Smash Mansion minding his own business when Sonic had snuck up behind him, kissing his cheek while snapping the photo. That moment was captured here, with Mario's startled expression and Sonic's smug grin.

Sighing Mario gently lay down on the mattress, and even though he knew it was going to be difficult he could at least attempt to get some rest. After all, he and Tails had a busy day ahead of them.

/~/

Mario and Tails waited until morning in order to contact the person Mario had been thinking of. When he contacted Professor E. Gadd, he was surprised to find his brother was the one who answered the call.

"Mario, there you are! I thought you were coming back early this morning, and I got worried when you didn't show up so I came here and Professor E. Gadd said he hadn't heard from you and-"

"Sonic's been kidnapped," Mario decided to get to the point right away.

Luigi stared at Mario with wide eyes. "What?"

"Last night. Eggman attacked, broke my arm, and Sonic got kidnapped. And he has all of our DNA integrated into a barrier that will disintegrate us if we try to go save him."

Luigi nodded as he processed the information. "So what can we do? Is there anything I can do to help?"

This was it. Taking a deep breath, Mario nodded. " _Sì._ I need to speak to Peach, because she can get into contact with the only person who's DNA Eggman doesn't have."

Luigi cocked his head to the side, confused. "And who would that be, bro?"

"Pauline."

/~/

"I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon, Mario."

Mario could only chuckle, giving Pauline a quick hug. "It's nice to see you Pauline. I wish it was under better circumstances though."

Pauline nodded, a sympathetic look on her face. "Peach was hysterical when she got in touch with me. And Luigi seemed a bit rattled as well," her gaze fell onto Tails, who was standing a couple of feet away looking a bit awkward. "And you must be Tails. I'm Pauline, Mayor of New Donk City. It's nice to meet you."

"And you," Tails replied, before motioning towards his Miles Electric. "Dr. Eggman's lair is here in the Mystic Ruins, not too far away actually. Really convenient now that I think about it."

"Alright," Pauline breathed. "Anything else I should know?"

"Dr. Eggman's incredibly dangerous, though since he thinks he's outsmarted us I don't think he'll have his full defense force up and running. Still, what he does have on guard will still be a significant threat, so I'd advise to just be careful."

"Of course," Pauline nodded. "I promise I'll get your brother back to you."

Tails awkwardly smiled, his eyes flicking between Mario and Pauline before he exited the room. Pauline turned to Mario with a raised eyebrow. "Is he alright?"

"Well, he knows about our history, and since I'm with his older brother..."

A look of realization came across Pauline's face. "Oh..."

"All he knows is that you're my ex-girlfriend and you're suddenly here. I get why he'd be a bit nervous, even though there's no reason to be." Sighing, Mario handed Pauline a backpack. "There are some power-ups in there that should help on your journey. All you need to do to activate one is concentrate on absorbing it's power."

"Understood." Pauline accepted the backpack, slipping it on her shoulders.

"And _grazie,"_ Mario whispered. "I know you have a city to run, and I promise this won't happen again on such short notice."

"Mario," Pauline placed her hands on Mario's shoulders. "It's fine, really. I'm happy to help whenever I can. You know this."

Mario searched Pauline's face for any sign of insincerity. When he found none he slowly nodded his head. "Okay..."

With that Pauline stood tall, staring out the window. "So I should probably head out now. East, right?"

 _"Sì._ Be careful."

Pauline smiled. "I always am. Don't worry Mario, I'll bring him back to you. You can count on me."

"I know."

Setting her shoulders, Pauline gave a final wave to Mario before heading out into the warm Mystic Ruins. Mario watched out the window until she was out of sight, before retreating to Sonic's room and sitting on the edge of the mattress, trying not to let the guilt eat away at him.

All he could do was wait now.

* * *

 ** _Replies_**

 **TemUltimate:** And that's the exact reaction I wanted out of people! Thank you for the review!

 **TheGameNguyener:** Yes, looking back at _From Rivalry to Romance_ knowing this reveal will show that there are some subtle hints placed throughout, and not so subtle. And honestly I never really got into reading the Sonic comic, it was the Mega Man one that I really liked. And as for the list of names, Birdo was listed to show a point that no one could go challenge Eggman like you had said. Thank you for the review!

 **Pamitydesu01:** And I'm glad no one saw that coming! Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **Silver1612:** Like I said above, I'm not that familiar with the comics either. I wanted to be, but there was way too much to catch up on and I eventually gave up. I'll probably check out the new comics coming out next year though. And all I'll really say is that Sonic's not done going though things in this story, not by a long shot. Thank you for the review!

* * *

 **AN: When I first got the idea for this story back in February, Peach was supposed to be the one to go in and save Sonic because I really like Peach and I like thinking that her and Sonic are really good friends. But then the E3 trailer happened, and Pauline showed up and I fell in love and since no one really writes about Pauline, I thought I'd give it a try! I also hope this means she'll be showing up in spinoff titles more often!  
**

 **And as for Alison... it was kind of hard to come up with a mother for Sonic. So I did consult my real life friends in helping create her character, so thank you guys since I know you're reading. And yes, we're all excited to play as her in Sonic Forces for our hedgehog custom character runs. :)  
**

 **Anyway, I think that's all I needed to say. Thank you guys for reading, and see you next time!**

 **~Steel**


	6. Past and Present

**AN: And I'm back. I'm so sorry about the schedule slip, I don't know how many of you read my profile but some health issues that had been in remission came back with a bit of a vengeance and knocked me out of commission for awhile there. The good news is that I'm fine for now, and I'm ready to get back into the story! So hopefully with no more delays, on with the story!**

* * *

 _ **Italics**_ **= Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Six: Past and Present~  
_

 _Dr. Robotnik hadn't expected Alison to come back to the laboratory after that. So when she showed up a month later, he didn't necessarily know how to act or what to say._

 _"Hello Alison. I trust you're doing well?"_

 _Alison shrugged. "So did it work?" she asked, folding her arms as she waited for a response._

 _While Robotnik didn't care for Alison's attitude, he motioned towards a test tube on one of the lab tables. "See for yourself."_

 _Alison sauntered over and took a peek inside the test tube, where a small embryo was floating in clear liquid. Her eyes widened in shock and not taking her eyes off of the test tube asked, "How did you get it to survive?"_

 _"I had a little help." Robotnik boasted, holding up a clear jewel. Alison glanced over, and nodded slowly._

 _"A Chaos Emerald," she noted, Robotnik raising his eyebrows having not expected her to know what it was._

 _"You have knowledge of the Chaos Emeralds?"_

 _"Did I not tell you that I'm an ex-member of the Lightning Bolt Society? I have knowledge of a lot of things, the Chaos Emeralds being one of them," her gaze fell onto the emerald in Robotnik's hands. "So you used the one that represents air. Any particular reason?"_

 _"Why exactly are you here?" Robotnik finally questioned, Alison turning fully to face him and folding her arms._

 _"Since I helped create this miracle of life, I want to stick around and see where this little experiment goes. At least it'll give me something to do."_

 _"No."  
_

 _Alison folded her arms. "Sorry, I don't take no as an answer. Try again."_

 _Robotnik sighed, eyeing Alison with distaste. As an ex-member of the Lightning Bolt Society she was a potential threat, and he couldn't have her talking about what she'd seen here. So he was left with two options; he could kill her, or he could keep her here in the lair. After mulling over the options he decided that she may be useful, and he snapped his fingers; a white orb-shaped robot floating to his side.  
_

 _"SA-55, prepare a room. We have an indefinite guest."_

 _"Oh, I get it. You don't trust me, so you're keeping me here. Classic."_

 _Robotnik glared at Alison before leaving the room, the hedgehog smirking as soon as he was out of earshot._

 _"That was almost too easy," she laughed, rolling up the cuff of her glove to reveal a communicator. Making sure no security cameras were around, she tapped the screen once. "This is Lightning Bolt Society member 06231991. I'm in."_

/~/

Inhale. Exhale.

That's what Pauline had been telling herself to do the entire journey over to Eggman's base, but now that she was mere feet away from it she needed that reminder more than anything. Just inhale and exhale, and everything would be fine.

Peeking out from behind the conveniently placed bush, Pauline noticed several robots guarding the area. Biting her lip she thought about what she could do. She obviously couldn't march up to the main entrance and demand Sonic back. She'd need to be stealthy in order to pull this off, and taking another look at the lair drew a quick map in the dirt. Eggman's lair was built on the edge of a cliff, and she highly doubted anyone would be guarding the back of the building. She deduced that that was probably her best way in, but actually getting there would prove itself to be tricky. She didn't have supernatural powers to take on the enemies, she was just a human. She did have those power-ups, but she decided to save them for later. She had a feeling she'd be needing all of them once she actually got inside the lair.

Surveying the area, Pauline realized that the cliff next to Eggman's lair extended all the way to the back. Smirking, she realized she'd found her solution, and making sure the robots weren't looking dashed towards the cliff and began to climb using the conveniently placed ivy that just so happened to be there.

She could do this.

/~/

 _"This is 06231991. The child is going to be a hedgehog, though we still don't know the gender yet; not that it really matters in the end. Dr. Robotnik is saying something along the lines of wanting to use the child for testing purposes, and then disposing of it. It's despicable, it's a living being and has just as much right to live as anything else."  
_

 _"Yes, I had a feeling he'd do something like that. Have you secured an escape route yet?"_

 _"Not quite. He's a bit suspicious of me because of my ties, so he puts guard robots outside my door at night so I can't go wandering about without him knowing. I do have this wing laid out though."_

 _"Good. Once the child has been born we're counting on you to escape with it. That way it can live a normal life and we can use Robotnik's method to make anthro-human hybrids a common species."  
_

 _"You can count on me. Over and out."_

/~/

Pauline jumped down from the cliff, landing just outside the back of the building. Like she had suspected, there were no security robots here, just a metal door with a keypad next to it. Password protected, of course.

She found it strange how there were no security cameras around as she approached the keypad, biting her lower lip as she thought about what the password could possibly be. A silly idea sprang into her mind, and after mulling it over for a minute decided to give it a shot.

E-G-G-M-A-N

She blinked in disbelief as the password was accepted and the door slid open. She frowned, wondering if it was some sort of trap, but after a few moments she shrugged and wandered inside the lair, glancing around for any sign of robots about to come and attack her. When nothing happened, she let out a small laugh in disbelief and continued down the path.

Maybe this would be easier than she thought.

/~/

 _Alison hummed as she gazed at the fetus growing in the tube. Dr. Robotnik had confirmed that it was a boy, and his fur was beginning to grow out, revealing it's colour to be blue. Alison wondered what his eye colour would be, green like hers or blue like Robotnik's. She hoped it would be green, that way it would feel like he was entirely her child._

 _Robotnik watched Alison out of the corner of his eye. She was always staring at the fetus, and while it was indeed quite the accomplishment his suspicions were growing stronger. As Alison headed back to her room, Robotnik snapped his fingers and the orb-shaped robot appeared at his side._

 _"SA-55, go after her and record anything that may be interesting, then relay it back to me."_

 _"Right away, sir." SA-55 responded, floating down the hallway.  
_

/~/

Pauline made sure to not make a single sound as she crept through the hallways, turning her head and keeping her eyes open for any type of security camera or robot. And even though she hadn't found any so far, she knew it wouldn't stay like that for long.

Rounding a corner, Pauline immediately hid behind a stack of metal crates as she spied a robot at the end of the hall, and furrowing her brow unzipped the backpack and took a peek at the power-ups. Fire Flowers, Ice Flowers, an Invincibility Star...

But it was a green capped mushroom her gaze fell on, and chuckling slightly lifted it out of the bag. A 1-Up Mushroom. Pauline figured Mario had packed it as a joke, a reference to her song.

She couldn't believe it when Mario had wound up in New Donk City of all places. After a couple years of not seeing him, he suddenly shows up out of the blue in an attempt to rescue Princess Peach. After they'd both gotten over the initial shock of seeing each other, they'd caught up at a small café. It was then that she'd learned of Mario's new relationship. And while she was happy for Mario, she couldn't help but feel somewhat sad at the revelation.

It was safe to say that she wasn't exactly over him. Even though it had been a mutual break-up because she was moving and they'd remained friends afterwards, she'd never quite moved on and she couldn't figure out why. And when the brothers had suddenly disappeared that fateful day in the sewers, she'd immediately gone back not only to comfort their parents but to investigate the last area they were seen in. She herself had fallen into a warp pipe, and wound up in New Donk City. She had no idea that she'd ended up in the same dimension until she began to hear stories of a man named Mario and his younger brother Luigi saving the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil Lord Bowser. And sure enough it was them, though when they were reunited she noticed a few things different about the both of them.

First, there was Luigi. While he'd always been a little on the shy side, he seemed to have a bit more confidence now, as evidenced by the fact that he was in a relationship with Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. Back when he was a teenager, you'd be hard pressed to find him talking with anyone besides Mario, his parents or herself. But it was Mario who had changed the most. Back when he was a teenager, he was socially awkward like his brother as well. As a result this led to him being bullied quite often, and even though he kept a brave face Pauline knew that he wasn't exactly happy.

But now... his eyes were brimming with confidence, he had a wide smile on his face, not to mention the fact that he was being regarded as a hero; not being beat down for being smart and keeping to himself. Pauline knew why - he'd never belonged on the Planet Doppel in the first place, he'd always belonged here, in the Mushroom Kingdom. She'd also learned that he had a crush on the princess that he was trying to be subtle about, but it was really obvious when he kept getting completely flustered whenever anyone brought her up. At least that was something that hadn't changed - he'd been the same way around her when they'd first met. It was hard to tell if the princess returned his feelings though, but one thing was clear - they'd become close friends. She felt no jealously towards Princess Peach though, she was glad that Mario had moved on, something she needed to work on.

And for the next few years they'd see each other occasionally, until she eventually became the mayor of New Donk City. After that she was busy with making sure the city was kept in order, and she didn't have time to think about Mario anymore. But his surprise reappearance had made those old feelings resurface, but she wasn't jealous of Sonic either. She saw the way Mario's face lit up whenever he'd mentioned him, an almost shy smile on his face. He was happy and clearly in love, and that was the only thing that mattered in the end. She could only hope that one day she'd find someone who would talk about her the same way Mario talked about Sonic.

Pauline blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. She was still hiding behind the metal crates, and the robot was still a problem. She grabbed a Fire Flower, and focused her thoughts on absorbing it, like Mario had told her. Sure enough she transformed, her outfit becoming white and red and her hair magically tying itself in a ponytail. She'd become Fire Pauline, and wasting no time she stepped out from behind her hiding place into the open, focusing on summoning her new power and tossing out a couple of fireballs.

The robot exploded on contact, triggering a security system that sent out a fleet of robots. Pauline stared all of them down, her hands igniting in flames again.

She would not fail.

/~/

 _"So she's been lying about being an ex-Lightning Bolt Society member all this time..."_

 _Robotnik once again listened to the audio SA-55 had recorded; she was clearly talking with someone on the outside. Humming he turned away from the robot and stared out the window._

 _"SA-55, find the coordinates of the Lightning Bolt Society base, and send a fleet of robots in. And keep sending them in until none of the members remain. Understood?"_

 _"Yes, Doctor." SA-55 responded, floating out of the room. Robotnik watched him go before returning to staring outside where Alison was with the newly born hedgehog, cradling him in her arms._

 _"You're going to regret lying to me, Alison," he muttered to himself. "Because it's going to cost you dearly."_

* * *

 ** _Replies_  
**

 **TheGameNguyener:** I'm glad Pauline's inclusion was unexpected! As for Sonic, we'll see how he's doing next chapter. And as for Alison, well... I guess we'll just have to see! Thank you for the review!

 **TemUltimate:** Yep, figured I may as well give Pauline some sort of starring role! Thank you for the review!

 **Pamitydesu01:** Like I said above, we'll check in with Sonic next chapter to see how he's doing. And thanks, I really wanted to incorporate some more characters into this, so I'm glad it seems to be going over well. Thank you for the review!

 **LEGOSonicCraggerFan:** And once again, I'm glad that Pauline was an unexpected character. Thank you for the review!

 **Silver1612:** And for the final time, I'm glad no one saw Pauline coming! And I guess we'll just have to see if she can save Sonic in time. Thank you for the review!

* * *

 **AN: Yes, I've adopted the headcanon that Pauline isn't over Mario. And I should also mention that for those of you more interested in the relationship Pauline and Mario had, it's something you can look forward to in _Throughout the Years._ That is, when I actually get back to writing it. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully I'll see you all soon!**

 **~Steel**


	7. Hope Spot

**_Italics_ = Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Seven: Hope Spot~  
_

 _Alison had taken to calling the child 'Maurice'. She liked the name, and she knew it pissed off Dr. Robotnik as he kept referring to Maurice as 'Operation Needlemouse' and didn't want her becoming attached to the child. But Alison couldn't help but be attached to him; he was her son after all.  
_

 _Alison held Maurice in one arm and brought the communicator up to her mouth. "This is 06231991. I still haven't secured an escape route, but I do have most of the lair mapped out. It shouldn't take too much longer for me to get out of here."_

 _The only thing that greeted Alison was dead static. She could have sworn her heart stopped beating as she tried again. "Hello? This is 06231991. Is anyone there?"_

 _"Well, well, well. I knew you were a traitor all along."_

 _Alison swiveled, facing Robotnik who was standing in the doorway with a grin of malice. "I knew you were lying about being an ex-member of the Lightning Bolt Society, and I know you've been in contact with them. Therefore I have... disposed of them."_

 _Alison swallowed back bile."You wouldn't..."  
_

 _"Oh but I would and did. And I could easily do the same to you... but I'll keep you alive for now."_

 _With that Robotnik left the room, leaving Alison stunned. Maurice began to fuss and Alison held him closer, glaring at the closed door._

 _"Don't worry Maurice, I'll get you out of here. We're still going to escape, no matter what."_

/~/

Sonic let out a heavy sigh as he glanced around his confinement, ears flattened. He hated being trapped like a lab rat, and worst of all was that he couldn't even get up and move around thanks to his broken leg. He wondered if Eggman was lying about the force field disintegrating him, and as he thought about it an idea came to him. Taking one of his shoes off, he removed the sock and eyed the barrier. In a single motion he tossed the sock at the barrier, brightening somewhat as the sock bounced off and to the floor.

"Heh, Egghead didn't think I'd try that, did he? Gettin' outta here will be a piece of-" he stopped himself as his sock slowly began to disintegrate, his eyes widening in horror.

"-cake." Sonic finished in a flat voice, replacing his shoe and sighing. Wracking his brain and coming up with no clear solution over how to get out of this situation, he came to the obvious conclusion.

"So this is how I die."

Nineteen years wasn't so bad. Sonic hummed as he reflected on what he'd accomplished in his life, wondering if he'd done everything he needed to. Tails was fifteen, and Sonic knew that he was old enough to take care of himself. Eggman would probably still be a threat, but he knew that his friends would be able to take care of him with no problem. He wasn't the only one with a Super form after all; Shadow and Silver could harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and Blaze had the Sol Emeralds. Not to mention Tails and Knuckles could briefly go Super with the Chaos Emeralds, plus the fact that Cream was older now and could probably help fight even more...

And then there was Mario. Sonic ran a finger over the guitar pick around his neck as he thought about his boyfriend. Sonic had told him that if he ever died he shouldn't mourn for him, and that he should move on and find someone else. It wouldn't be that difficult; Mario attracted a lot of people thanks to his heroism and kindness. It's what made Sonic fall for him in the first place. The only issue was that Mario was somewhat oblivious when it came to romance, not always picking up on the fact that someone had a crush on him. But he was sure that if someone liked him enough, they'd let him know. Maybe not by impulsively kissing him like he'd had, but in a different, less direct way.

With those thoughts out of the way, Sonic lay on his side, tugging on his earring. He wasn't afraid of what was to come; he'd lived each and every day to it's fullest and had no regrets looking back on his life. He could hear something coming from deeper inside the base, and figured his time was almost up. Closing his eyes Sonic focused his thoughts on his friends. If he really, truly was about to die, he wanted his last memories to be of the people he loved the most.

/~/

Pauline took a deep breath, before exhaling it all a few seconds later. She'd made it quite far into the base at this point; taking out fleet after fleet of robots and disabling security cameras along the way. She figured that Eggman was probably aware of her infiltration at this point, but she could care less at the moment. She'd come this far, and wasn't about to give up now.

Turning a corner, she found herself face-to-face with a red orb shaped robot and a yellow cube shaped robot. She winced when she realized she had no power-ups left, but still stared down her opponents. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"You're here to rescue Sonic, aren't you?" the red robot asked, Pauline quirking an eyebrow having not expected that sort of question.

"Why should I tell you?" she shot back, getting ready to fight.

"Because we'll gladly show you where he's being kept," the red robot continued, clearly not fazed at all by the situation. In fact, he seemed almost... relieved?

"Why should I trust you?" was Pauline's next question, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at the robots.

"Because we'll tell you all of the lair's secrets!" the yellow robot spoke, Pauline shaking her head.

"No need. Why are you helping me?"

"You ask a lot of questions," the yellow robot observed, tilting his head.

"Because there's no reason for Sonic to be here," the red robot answered. "Sure he may be Eggman's son, but killing him is a bit too harsh in my opinion."

"Eggman's son...?" Pauline murmured in confusion, before composing herself. "Fine, I'll trust you. Take me to him."

"This way," the red robot began floating down the hall with the yellow one in tow, Pauline following but keeping on her guard just in case.

"So do you have names?" she asked.

"My name is Orbot, and my brother here is Cubot," the red robot responded. "We were designed to be Dr. Eggman's assistants, but he left us with free will. That was his first mistake."

"Along with all the other mistakes he's made!" Cubot added.

"I see," Pauline uttered, the three of them falling into silence. After a few awkward minutes, Orbot and Cubot stopped in front of a metal door guarded with a PIN pad.

"11-07-17," Orbot muttered. "10-27-17"

The door slid open, and Pauline turned to Orbot and Cubot. "Thank you for the help."

"Just get him out of here," Orbot said. "Someone needs to take down Dr. Eggman in the future. Sonic's the only one who can do it."

Pauline blinked, watching Orbot and Cubot float down the hall; stunned. Turning she stepped into the room, her gaze falling on the hedgehog with his back turned to her.

"If you're gonna kill me, you may as well do it now," Sonic droned, still with his back to her. Pauline couldn't help but snicker at his bluntness.

"That's not what I was sent in to do," she quietly answered, Sonic jumping and turning towards the unfamiliar voice; confusion in his eyes.

"Who-" he started, before realization set in. "Wait, you're Pauline, aren't you?"

"Now it's my turn to be surprised," Pauline mumbled, groaning in frustration at yet another keypad. "How do you know who I am?"

"Mar showed me pictures," Sonic explained. "And he told me how you're the Mayor of New Donk City, was it?"

"Yes, I am indeed the Mayor," Pauline confirmed. "I'm surprised he's shown you pictures."

"Yeah, he's shown me pictures of when he was younger, an' told stories an' all that good stuff." Sonic paused, quirking an eyeridge and turning serious. "So I'm guessin' you're here 'cause Egghead doesn't have your DNA, right? So you can get in here without bein' disintegrated?"

"Exactly," Pauline studied the keypad and frowned. "This looks like it will deactivate all his defense forces. Do you have any idea what the password could be?"

"Did you try Eggman? That's usually what it is, 'cause he's narcissistic and likes lettin' people know it."

"That was the password I used to get into the lair." Pauline pointed out, Sonic humming in response.

"Then it's not that, an' I doubt it would be Robotnik 'cause that would be too obvious..." Sonic wracked his brain, trying to think of what else the password could be. He was coming up blank, until an idea struck him. "Maria..."

"What?"

"Maria, the name of his cousin! See if that'll work!"

"Alright," Pauline typed in the password on the keypad, hitting the enter button and waiting. For a moment nothing happened, until the barrier vanished and the capsule opened, both Sonic and Pauline looking startled.

"It actually worked," Sonic said, dumbfounded. "Did that disable the barrier on the outside too?"

"It seems so," Pauline answered. "We should probably leave now."

"I have a broken leg," Sonic pointed out.

"Then I'll carry you," Pauline replied, effortlessly picking up Sonic. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."

"Wait," Sonic pointed towards the picture and journal that had been left there by Eggman. "Take those with us, they're important."

Pauline set Sonic down for a brief moment, handing the items off to him before picking him up again. It was time to make their escape.

/~/

A beeping sound came from the Miles Electric, both Tails and Mario jolting at the sudden sound. Tails picked up the device, drawing in a breath. "Eggman's defense system is down. She did it."

"I knew she could," Mario breathed. "But Eggman will know if his defenses are down, right? Won't he go after them?"

"With Sonic's speed they should be here any minute!" Tails proudly stated, before he realized Mario had his eyes on the floor. "What?"

"Sonic broke his leg," Mario explained. "He won't be able to get out of there quickly, so I'm guessing Pauline's carrying him."

"Well, you gave her power ups, right? I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Right."

Tails suddenly marched over to his transportation device, tapping a few keys and pulling a lever, the device whirring to life.

"What are you doing?" Mario asked, Tails turning to him with a smirk.

"Well, since Eggman's defenses are down, he won't be able to get them back online for at least a day or two. I say this is the perfect time to call for some backup for a counterattack," he twirled the coin between his fingers. "Right?"

Mario didn't say anything for a moment, before his smirk mirrored Tails'. "Right."

/~/

 _"Why are you crying, Mama?"_

 _Alison's head snapped up, and she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and put on a smile for her five year old son. "Oh, it's just allergies. I'm fine, don't worry about me."_

 _Which was a lie. She still wasn't any closer to escaping this damn place, and time was running out. She didn't know how long Robotnik was planning on keeping Maurice alive, so she needed to act fast or else...  
_

 _Maurice frowned seeing the distress on his mother's face, too young to understand the situation he was in. So he gave her a bright smile, hoping to cheer her up. "No more tears, Mama! Everything is going to be okay!"_

 _Alison let out a small, bitter laugh. If only that were the case._

* * *

 _ **Replies**_

 **TheGameNguyener:** Honestly, Pauline's past is one of my favourite scenes I've written, not just for this story either. And yeah, Alison is in a really bad spot right now. Who knows what's gonna happen next? Thank you for the review!

 **Pamitydesu01:** I'm glad the vibe I was trying to give off with the chapter worked out in the end. Thank you for the review!

 **TemUltimate:** That was actually a reference to _Sonic Adventure,_ where the password to get into the Chao Garden upon the Egg Carrier was Eggman. I thought it was funny, so I decided to use it here! Thank you for the review!

* * *

 **AN: Some of you may be confused as to why Tails is fifteen and Sonic is nineteen when they canonically have a seven year age gap between them. The reason for that is because in my headcanon Sonic lost three years being in the Super Smash Brothers, where time does not flow. So I hope that clears things up a bit! :) And also, thank you for over 1,000 views! Considering I wasn't exactly that confident in this story simply because of it's premise, I'm glad it's managed to actually intrigue some of you! :)**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and see ya in the next one!  
**

 **~Steel**


	8. Escape

**AN: Just a little warning before we start, there's some suggestive content at the end of this chapter, so if you're uncomfortable with that feel free to skip the last four paragraphs of this chapter. With that out of the way, please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _ **Italics**_ **= Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Eight: Escape~  
_

 _"We have to go."_

 _Maurice groaned, opening sleepy eyes and glancing around in confusion before his gaze fell on Alison, standing over him. "What is it, Mom?"_

 _"We have to go. Now."_

 _That was enough to fully wake Maurice, springing up and cocking his head to the side. "Why Mom?"_

 _"I can't explain right now, but we need to leave right now, before he finds out we're attempting to escape."_

 _Maurice blinked, still a bit confused but obliging to his mothers wishes. Alison took Maurice by the hand and taking a deep breath finally put her plan into action. It had taken nearly nine years, but she finally figured out an escape route._

 _They would finally be free._

/~/

Pauline sprinted through the halls of the lair, Sonic keeping a paranoid eye on the fleet of robots behind them. Eggman had of course noticed that his defenses were down, and had sent robots to find the culprit responsible. With no power-ups on her and Sonic injured, they had no choice but to book it to the exit, a lot easier said than done.

"Hurry, hurry..." Sonic mumbled.

"I'm trying!" Pauline responded, a hint of panic in her tone.

"You're not going anywhere," a familiar voice rang out, Pauline being forced to stop as Eggman appeared in front of her with his portable aircraft. His eyes fell on Sonic in Pauline's arms, and the items that Sonic was holding. "Tell you what - you give those items in your hands back, and I'll let you leave alive."

"No." Sonic snarled. "I have a right to know the circumstances of my creation, an' I have a right to know who my mother was."

Eggman said nothing, just staring down Pauline and Sonic. Eventually he pressed a button on his aircraft. "Activate self-destruction sequence, five minutes."

"You're despicable," Pauline spat. "Putting your own son through this. What kind of a father are you?"

Eggman didn't reply, just turning around and heading down the corridor leaving Pauline and Sonic standing there stunned for a moment, before he ground rumbled and shook both of them back into reality.

"We gotta bail, fast!" Sonic cried, Pauline nodding and sprinting down the hallway.

/~/

 _This wasn't good._

 _"Keep running!" Alison yelled to Maurice who was ahead of her at the moment, both of them stricken with panic. Robotnik had predictably found out about their escape plan, and had activated a self-destruct sequence. And the thing was, Alison knew Robotnik would do something like this. Crafty bastard._

 _Maurice flinched as a chunk of the ceiling fell in front of him, swiftly jumping over it and looking back to make sure his mom was still behind him._

 _"We're almost there," Alison panted. "Just one more turn, and-"_

 _Several more chunks of the ceiling fell, and Alison tripped. Before she could get back up another piece fell, crushing her legs. Alison screamed in pain and Maurice skidded to a stop, eyes widening in horror as he ran back to her. "Mom!"_

 _"Maurice, don't worry about me. Get out of here!" Alison cried as Maurice attempted to push the piece of ceiling off of her. "Maurice, stop!"_

 _"No!" Maurice persisted, clearly panicking. "I can't leave without you, Mom!"_

 _"You have to," Alison murmured, her voice dropping in tone. "Maurice, you have to leave me here."_

 _"But... you'll die." Maurice whispered, tears filling his eyes._

 _"Maurice, my fate was sealed the moment I stepped through those lair doors nine years ago. But you... you have a chance to escape. Take it."_

 _A tear slipped down Maurice's cheek, Alison shaking her head. "No more tears Maurice. Now go. Live your life far away from here. All you need to do is take one more left and you'll be free."_

"Self destruct sequence: 60 seconds remaining."

 _"Go!" Alison yelled, Maurice hesitating for a moment before turning to leave._

 _"I love you, Mom." his voice broke on the last word._

 _"I love you too, Maurice."_

 _With a sob Maurice sprinted down the hallway, turning left like Alison had told him to do. She wasn't worried if he'd escape in time or not, he was fast enough to do so. More rubble fell around her, and to her surprise she realized she was crying._

"Ten seconds."

 _Alison squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself. Everything around her violently shook and loud explosions could be heard from deeper inside the base. As the ground rumbled beneath her, she focused her thoughts on her son, who would hopefully be able to get far away from this hell and never have to deal with Robotnik ever again._

"One second."

/~/

 _The explosion from behind him made Maurice stop, pivoting and watching in horror as the lair went up in smoke and flames. He couldn't stop the tears; he collapsed on the grass and sobbed, feeling numb and hopeless._

 _After a few minutes Maurice composed himself and shakily stood, wiping the tears from his eyes and staring forward, a determined expression replacing the sad look he had moments before. No more tears. His mom had told him to get as far away from here as possible, but by glancing around he saw nothing but ocean surrounding the island. How was he supposed to escape?_

 _"A plane..." Maurice mumbled to himself in realization. But Robotnik had just blown up the lair, was there even a plane left?_

 _Maurice quickly ran around the circumference of the island, and for a moment things looked bleak until he noticed a small red plane tucked away in the bushes. He quickly sprinted towards it and hopped in, eyes scanning over the control panel in confusion. Hesitantly he pressed a button, jumping as the plane roared to life. Something came back to him, a lesson his mom had taught him on how to pilot an airplane. Almost as if she knew that one day he'd need to learn how. Shaking his head and gripping the wheel Maurice took off into the sky, far away from the island to hopefully safer land.  
_

/~/

It didn't take long for backup to arrive. Mario allowed himself to smile as Luigi wandered over to him, handing his brother his Blaster that he'd used during the Rabbid invasion. Even with his broken arm, Mario was still going to fight.

"And here's the clothes that you requested." Luigi added, handing over several button-down shirts and trousers. Much easier to change into with a broken arm.

 _"Grazie,"_ Mario replied, before pulling his brother into a hug. Luigi reciprocated the gesture, knowing that Mario needed a bit of reassuring comfort at that moment. After a moment they broke, Mario disappearing into Sonic's room so he could change. Meanwhile several others were showing up, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Amy, Silver, Knuckles, Blaze. Tails glanced around with a frown before turning to Blaze.

"Marine's not with you?"

"Someone had to stay to watch after the Sol Emeralds and the Jeweled Scepter." Blaze explained. "But not to worry. I'll make sure to tell her that her _boyfriend_ said hi."

"S-She's not..." Tails stuttered, muzzle tinting pink. Blaze only chuckled, before heading over to where the other girls were. Luigi wandered up to Tails, concern in his eyes.

"So how has he been exactly?" he quietly asked.

"Mario? He's been a bit panicked, but mostly holding up well."

"That's good," Luigi murmured, relieved. "And you?"

"I've been better," Tails admitted. "Usually it's me or someone else in danger, but never Sonic. It's unnerving, but I'm handling it."

Mario emerged from Sonic's room wearing his Shine Sprite shirt he'd got on Isle Delfino, along with a pair of jeans.

"Anything yet?" he asked Tails, the fox shaking his head.

"Not yet. I just hope that-"

He was cut off as an alarm sounded from the Miles Electric, everyone turning their heads as Tails grabbed it and stared at the screen, his eyes going wide and looking pale.

"E-Eggman set off a self-destruction sequence," he murmured numbly, Mario's blood freezing in his veins. "F-Five minutes. Sweet Chaos, they have five minutes!"

"What do we do?" Peach asked, panic in her voice. Tails shook his head.

"I-I don't know! We can't get to the base in five minutes, and even if we could we have no idea where in the base they are. I... I think we just have to wait and see."

It wasn't news that any of them wanted to hear, but they all needed to accept it anyway. The atmosphere in the room shifted; with only one thing on all their minds. Meanwhile Mario went to the window, staring out into the Mystic Ruins with worried eyes.

They would make it. They had to.

/~/

Pauline side-stepped as more debris fell from the ceiling, Sonic keeping lookout behind them in case robots were chasing them. So far they'd been doing well, and Sonic had a gut feeling that they were close to escaping.

Pauline gasped, and Sonic turned his gaze forward to realize that there was a blockage of rubble in front of them, something that they couldn't climb over or move aside easily. Pauline tensed, were they trapped?

 _"Self-destruct sequence- two minutes."_

 _"Shit."_ Pauline hissed, at a loss as what they could do. Sonic meanwhile stared at the blockage, realizing that he could easily spindash through it to clear a path. The question was, could he even spindash with a broken leg? Only one way to find out...

"Set me down." he instructed, Pauline giving him a baffled look.

"Why?"

"I need to try somethin'. Set me down." Sonic clarified. While Pauline looked uneasy, she obliged to Sonic's wishes and set him down. Gritting his teeth Sonic shakily stood, hissing in pain as his leg screamed in protest. Pauline went to help Sonic, but he shook his head, handing Pauline the journal and picture. Trying not to throw-up, he mustered all his strength and launched into a spindash, clearing away the rubble and collapsing to the ground.

"Sonic!" Pauline cried, scooping the hedgehog back up. His eyes were squeezed shut; groaning in pain. Pauline winced, before continuing on. A very familiar door came into view, and relief swept through Pauline. It was the exit, they were almost there!

Thankfully no robots were guarding the exit, and bursting through the door Pauline made it outside, wasting no time getting as far away from the lair as possible as to not get caught in the blast zone when it exploded. Half a minute later she heard the explosion, and turning stared wide-eyed at the smoke rising into the air, and the flames licking the sky. She took several deep breaths, letting her heartbeat return to normal before taking another look at Sonic who had gone limp in her arms; passed out thanks to the pain.

"You'll be okay Sonic," she whispered. "I'll get you back to Mario and Tails."

/~/

The echoing explosion made everyone in the house tense, Tails joining Mario at the window who was frozen; eyes glued on a plume of smoke off in the distance. No one said anything, they knew exactly what had caused it.

Tails cautiously looked around at his friends; Luigi was staring at his brother in concern, Peach had her hands over her mouth in shock and horror, Daisy had a comforting arm around her best friend, while Yoshi had his eyes lowered in sadness. Meanwhile Amy looked on the brink of tears, clutching onto Silver who looked scared out of his wits. Knuckles and Blaze kept poker faces, but were clearly on edge.

For a few minutes no one said or did anything until Mario gasped, seeing something off in the distance. Wasting no time he bolted out the door, Tails looking out the window and sighing in relief as he saw Pauline and Sonic, giving a reassuring look to the rest of his friends. The tension in the room dropped, concern changing into relief.

Mario met Pauline outside, worried gaze focused on the unconscious Sonic in her arms. "Is he...?"

"I think he'll be fine, but he definitely needs some medical attention."

"Okay," his eyes met Pauline's. "Are you hurt at all?"

"Focus on Sonic first. He's in worse shape than me."

Nodding, Mario motioned for Pauline to follow him inside. "Luigi, Peach, I need your help." he instructed, both Luigi and Peach nodding and following Pauline and Mario into Sonic's room, where Pauline gently lay Sonic down on his bed. Peach was immediately at Pauline's side, lightly gasping when she noticed a few scratches.

"I'll tend to Pauline!" Peach called to Mario, who nodded and turned his gaze back to Sonic.

"Okay, so he needs a cast for his leg, and we need a roll of bandages for the wound on his head, and-"

"No need," Tails interrupted, wandering into the room with an armful of rings. "These are all we need to heal him."

Tails placed the rings on Sonic's torso, and Mario, Luigi, Peach and Pauline watched in awe as the rings slowly sunk into Sonic, a golden glow spreading through him as his wounds slowly began to heal, skin mending itself and his leg stitching itself back together.

"How...?" Mario questioned.

"Rings are more than currency," Tails explained. "They're also a life force of sorts. They get absorbed into our bloodstream, and are capable of keeping us alive from fatal blows as long as we have one on us."

"That's incredible," Mario breathed. "I had no idea."

"All he needs now is rest. When he wakes up he'll be good as new!"

 _"Grazie."_ Mario thanked Tails, before turning his attention to Pauline, still being attended to by Peach.

"There!" Peach sang brightly, finishing applying the bandages. "How are you feeling now?"

"Much better, thank you." Pauline smiled, Peach returning the gesture before leaving the room with Luigi and Tails. Mario turned his attention to Pauline, who was gazing at Sonic with worry.

"I learned something when I went to rescue him," she quietly explained. "Did you realize he's Eggman's son?"

Mario blinked. "What?" he whispered.

Pauline handed Mario the journal and picture. "He wanted to take these with him."

Mario accepted the items, taking a quick glance at the title scrawled on the cover of the journal. A sick feeling went through his stomach, before his eyes rested on the picture. The small hedgehog was clearly a younger Sonic, and from the way it looked the older hedgehog was his mother considering they had the same eyes. "I don't believe it..."

Pauline bit her lower lip. "I really want to stay and help more, but I need to head back to New Donk City. While I do think my deputy mayor could handle things a bit longer, I should probably be there."

"Oh..." Mario mumbled. "Well, I shouldn't keep you then. _Grazie_ for bringing Sonic back though."

"It was nothing," Pauline reassured. "Let me know how he is when he wakes up."

"I will." Mario gave Pauline a quick hug. "Take care. I'll speak with you soon."

Smiling, Pauline left the room, leaving Mario alone with Sonic. He dragged a chair over to sit near him, wanting to be there when he woke up. His eyes fell onto the journal, but he decided against reading it for now considering he had no idea what kind of horrors could be written in the pages. Instead he took to clasping his hand in Sonic's, feeling somewhat relieved when he felt Sonic very lightly squeeze back.

All he could do was wait now.

/~/

Sonic groaned, opening his eyes and glancing around in a daze before realizing he was in his room in Tails' house. He also realized that Mario was slouched in a chair next to the bed, his head resting on the mattress and one of his hands clasped in his. Sonic chuckled, before running his free hand through Mario's hair in order to wake him up.

Mario stirred, lifting his head and brightening when he realized Sonic was awake. Now that he was sitting upright Sonic could see the shirt he was wearing, and couldn't help but stifle a laugh. "I didn't realize it was Alolan shirt day." he commented.

"And that's how I know that you're feeling perfectly fine." Mario sighed. He leaned in to give Sonic an awkward one-armed hug, Sonic frowning when he noticed the cast.

"You're hurt."

"It's fine," Mario assured. Wasting no time, he continued, "We're going to counterattack Eggman tomorrow. Since your injuries are healed, I'm guessing you'll be up for it?"

Sonic gave Mario his trademark grin. "'Course I'll be up for it. It's you who I'm worried about, with your broken arm an' all."

"I have my Blaster from the Rabbids attack," Mario explained. "So I'll still be able to battle alongside you."

"Perfect," Sonic smirked. "The Blaster's a projectile, right? So for team attacks this'll be similar to fireballs, right?"

"You'd be right in thinking that," Mario confirmed. "But, if we're going to counterattack against Eggman, I'm assuming you'd rather face off against him by yourself considering it's... personal."

Sonic flinched. "So you heard the lovely news, huh?"

"Pauline told me. I'm so sorry Sonic." pausing, he added, "I guess joining a boy band sounds really tempting right now, doesn't it?"

"Eh, it is what it is," Sonic shrugged. "The only bright side to the entire thing is that Shadow's technically my great-uncle, since Eggman's grandfather created him." he snickered to himself. "I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out that I'm his great-nephew! But is Pauline still here? I haven't properly thanked her for rescuing me yet."

"She had to go back to New Donk City, but I'll let her know that you're fine."

"Sure." Sonic stayed quiet, before his eyes flicked over to the journal and picture. "Hand me those please - I need to know the severity of the beatdown I'm givin' Egghead tomorrow."

Mario handed Sonic the items, Sonic gazing at the photo before nodding to himself. "I guess that's why I'm so fond of dark purple..." he murmured, taking a deep breath before opening the journal and beginning to read. He stayed silent for a few minutes, until he said a single thing. "Alison."

"What?"

"That's my mom's name. Alison. She was apparently an ex-member of an organization called the Lightning Bolt Society who wanted to do the same thing _he_ was doing. Create an anthro-human hybrid."

"Interesting." Mario murmured, Sonic going back to reading. After a few minutes he spoke again.

"There was a fifty percent chance I could have been a human."

"Really?" Mario questioned. "I don't even know what you'd look like as a human."

"According to the author I'd have perfectly styled blue hair, wear a sports jacket an' apparently I'm a real charmer an' a flirt as we were makin' out within the first half hour of knowin' each other! Y'know, like all realistic couples!"

Mario blinked. "Uh..."

"Nevermind." Sonic muttered, turning his eyes back to the page. His brow furrowed as he continued reading, before lowering the book in disgust. "So apparently my mom was double-crossing Eggman an' wasn't really an ex-member of the Lightning Bolt Society. But Eggman found out an'... he sent a group of robots out to dispose of them."

"You're joking."

"I wish I was."

Mario could only shake his head as Sonic went back to reading, once again stopping to point something else out a few moments later. "An' Egghead wasn't lyin' to me when he said that Mom called me Maurice, that really was the name she gave me. Maurice."

Mario didn't have much to say about that, and let Sonic continue reading. He watched as Sonic's face went through a range of emotions; sadness, anger, confusion. Eventually though, he paused to read a passage aloud.

 _"Alison attempted to escape with the child tonight. A guard robot alerted me, and I activated the lair's self-destruction sequence. I wasn't expecting either of them to survive, but the experiment managed to escape. As for Alison though... she wasn't so lucky. But in the end, it serves her right for coming back for the child in the first place. I've sent a robot out to deal with the child, I'm not expecting him to survive the attack. No matter though. I have collected all the data I needed from him, and he was planned to be disposed of soon anyway."_

Sonic promptly snapped the journal shut and tossed it across the room, not wanting to read the rest of it. Mario studied his face, not finding any sort of emotion present. "Sonic?"

"Can we go fight him now?" Sonic asked, tone completely flat. "I wanna go fight him now."

"No Sonic, we can't go fight him now because it's currently nighttime and everyone else is probably asleep," Mario answered. "And besides, we need Tails to track down where he ended up."

"Right," Sonic mumbled, disappointed. "Why did I get stuck with the messed up family? I mean, look at you! You had the perfect childhood with a mom and dad who loved you, while I was just an experiment."

"Your mother seemed to love you if she gave you a name," Mario pointed out. "And if it's any consolation, it's a very nice name." Pausing, Mario gave Sonic a questioning look. "So do you want to be referred to as Sonic, or Maurice now that you know?"

"Sonic," he replied with no hesitation. "It's the only name I've ever known, an' it's what everyone already knows me as. No need to confuse everyone, right?"

"Right," Mario nodded. He gazed at Sonic with concerned eyes before hopping up on the bed with him; mildly startling Sonic.

"What are you-"

"Comforting you." Mario replied, wrapping his arms around him as best he could. Sonic frowned and attempted to wiggle out of his hold.

"I don't need comfort. What I need right now is sweet revenge on Eggman for makin' my entire life a living hell!"

"You need comfort." Mario repeated, holding Sonic tighter.

"No I-"

"Sonic, _please_ stop being stubborn and let me comfort you, because I don't know what else I'm supposed to do in this situation."

Sonic went quiet, before giving in and allowing himself to relax into Mario's embrace. The two stayed like that for several minutes until Sonic tilted his head slightly and brought his lips to Mario's, running his hands through his hair and bringing him in even closer. Mario let out a quiet moan as Sonic's lips migrated from his lips to his jaw, while his hands traveled from his hair to play with the buttons on his shirt.

"I'm wearing a cast..." Mario murmured, Sonic taking one look at it and shrugging before taking the upper hand and pushing Mario down onto the mattress, straddling him and giving him his trademark smirk.

"You were saying?" Sonic questioned, his eyes glittering with mischief as he waited for an okay to continue. Mario gazed into the eyes of his equal, before lightly chuckling and using his free hand to bring Sonic down to his level.

"I wasn't saying anything at all..." he whispered, before being silenced by Sonic hungrily crashing their lips together.

* * *

 _ **Replies**_

 **TheGameNguyener:** Yay, somebody noticed the reference I put in! The thing about my stories is that I like putting easter eggs like that in, and there's another number based one in this fanfic that's already been seen a few times already. But as for Sonic... well, we'll see. Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **Pamitydesu01:** Hm, I'll have mercy on them... for now, at least. After all, we still have four chapters left. Who knows what will happen? Thank you for the review!

 **Silver1612:** Like Sonic said, he wanted the journal because he wanted to find out the truth behind his creation. Thank you for the review!

 **LEGOSonicCraggerFan:** Well I'm glad you think so! Thank you for the review!

 **TemUltimate:** But unfortunately, things were not okay in the slightest. They are for now, but they won't stay that way. Thank you for the review!

* * *

 **AN: And there's Chapter 8 done. Four chapters remain, and while things seem fine at the moment I'm not done with these two yet. Next chapter's a bit of a breather, and then we get back into the action. See you then!  
**

 **~Steel**


	9. Calm Before the Storm

**AN: And here's a bit of a breather chapter before we get back into the action, because I'm not done with these characters yet. How can I not be done with them when there's only a few chapters left? Well, you'll see! Enjoy!  
**

* * *

 ** _Italics =_ Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Nine: Calm Before the Storm~_

 _The first place Sonic found himself after leaving South Island was a small town a few miles away, and he decided to stop there in order to get some supplies. As he was approaching the store he heard two people talking, and upon listening closer he realized they were talking about him; specifically, his triumph over Dr. Robotnik. Making sure he wasn't going to be seen, he crouched behind a couple of garbage cans and eavesdropped._

 _"I can't believe a little thing like him could take out Dr. Robotnik!" one of them said. Sonic felt a surge of pride in his chest, but it quickly deflated after the other one spoke._

 _"He's still nothing compared to Mario though."_

 _Sonic frowned at the unfamiliar name. He noticed the one who had just spoken was holding a magazine and pointing at an article._

 _"I dunno, I think Mario may have some competition in the hero department."_

 _"But Mario's famous in nearly every dimension. Do you really think Sonic could reach that level of fame?"_

 _Anger bubbled in Sonic's chest. Of course he could!_

 _"Who knows? Come on, let's go."_

 _The two of them began to walk away, discarding the magazine on the ground. As soon as they were out of sight Sonic emerged from his hiding place, picking up the magazine and curiously scanning it's contents. He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the photo of what looked like a plumber, before scoffing. That was his competition? He could easily gain more fame than a stupid plumber, that was for sure. He'd show them. He'd show them all._

/~/

Mario was the first one to wake up, glancing around in a bit of a daze before his eyes landed on Sonic curled up next to him, one of the hedgehog's arms laid across his chest as he slept. Gently moving Sonic's arm aside and trying not to wake him up Mario silently got out of bed, quickly locating his discarded clothes and redressing himself. Getting back into the bed he reached over to the nightside table again to grab the book he'd brought with him, figuring reading would help him go back to sleep.

Sonic - having felt a disturbance - opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times before he realized what Mario was doing. Chuckling softly he sat up and lay his head on Mario's shoulder. "I feel like I should be more surprised than I actually am, but considerin' this isn't the first time you've done this..."

Mario returned Sonic's chuckle, memories of the Smash Mansion flooding his mind. Once him and Sonic had started sharing a bed Sonic had learned of Mario's tendency to read if he woke up in the middle of the night. Sometimes if neither of them could sleep Mario would read to Sonic; sometimes in English and sometimes in Italian depending on the book it was. And even though Sonic barely understood the Italian stories, he just enjoyed hearing Mario speak in his native tongue. "You know I read in order to go back to sleep."

"So what book is it this time?" Sonic questioned, Mario folding the corner of the page he was on and showing Sonic the cover. Sonic could only blink in confusion, before lifting his eyes to meet Mario's. "You're usin' horror stories to get back to sleep?"

 _"Sì?"_ Mario replied.

"So you've mentioned that you weren't exactly that popular growin' up. Did you ever stop to consider the Grim Reaper on the cover may have had somethin' to do with that?"

Mario pondered on the question for a moment before responding. " _Sì."_

"An' yet it's one of the things I find endearin' about ya," Sonic murmured. "So what exactly is the story here?"

Mario smirked ever so slightly, before reading a passage from the page. _"Alex turned, perplexed by the sound behind her. Her hand flew to her mouth and she resisted the urge to scream at what she found in the bathtub. A corpse. Not just any corpse though, a corpse of herself slumped against the side of the basin, drowning in a pool of her own blood."_

"Cheery," was Sonic's only response. "That sounds awfully familiar though... like a psychological horror game."

"Whatever you say," Mario mumbled, resuming his reading.

"It actually kinda reminds me of the horror stories Red used to tell me an' Pit..." Sonic remembered, Mario lowering the book to give Sonic his full attention.

"You've mentioned that before... what exactly did he tell you two?"

"He used to tell us urban legends from his world, like how in this place called the Pokémon Tower there's a zombie known as Buried Alive that'll show up on occasion and eat you or some weird thing like that, an' then there was the one about a song that contained a frequency so high it caused some people to commit suicide in unusual ways. Stuff like that. I never got freaked out by it - I mean, look at what I've seen in my life - but Pit sure did."

"So that's why Pit was so jumpy during that tournament," Mario noted.

"Yeah," Sonic sighed. "Hey, turn the book towards me, I wanna read too."

Mario turned the book so the pages were visible to both of them. Resting their heads together, they began to read.

"You sure you'll be alright to fight tomorrow?" Sonic quietly asked after a few moments.

"I'll be fine. It's you I'm concerned about."

"Oh, don't be concerned about me," Sonic said nonchalantly, waving a hand in the air. "I'll be just fine."

Mario didn't like the way Sonic said that last sentence, but didn't question him further. Humming in acknowledgement he turned his eyes down to the page again, trying to ignore the sinking feeling he suddenly felt in his stomach.

/~/

At some point Sonic had fallen asleep on his shoulder, so Mario had gently laid him down on the pillow to let him get some rest. He himself wasn't tired in the slightest though - the past twenty-four hours had left him completely wired and even though he knew he should try and get some more rest he just couldn't get back to sleep. Glancing at the time he saw that it was five in the morning, not an unreasonable time to get up. He gently moved the sheets aside and got out of bed, deciding to take a shower first before doing anything else.

Since he had a cast, he needed to wrap it in plastic wrap first in order to keep it dry; a lot easier said than done when no one else was around to help. Eventually though he managed to cover the cast and head to the bathroom in order to prepare for the day.

By the time Mario had finished it was a little past five-thirty, and hearing commotion from the kitchen wandered in and found Tails making a pot of coffee. He gave a small smile as Mario approached, handing him a mug and gesturing to the living room.

"Everyone else is still asleep. I couldn't though - I was worried about Sonic and thinking about today's battle. I've tracked down Eggman's location, he's still here in the Mystic Ruins in another base. I had no idea he had so many."

"He's much more dangerous than I thought." Mario admitted.

Tails nodded. "He really is." Placing his own mug down, Tails got a couple of plates and glanced at Mario. "Are you hungry at all?"

"Not really, but I should probably eat something if we're going to be fighting today."

Tails nodded. "Any food preference?"

"Just toast if you have any."

"Sure thing," Tails replied, placing a slice of bread into the toaster and pulling the lever down. "And take this apple to Sonic - try and get him to eat something healthy for once."

"I'll try, but I highly doubt I'll be able to." Mario responded, taking the apple from Tails. Just then the toast popped out of the toaster, and placing it on a plate with a bit of butter Tails handed it off to Mario.

"Here."

 _"Grazie."_ Mario thanked, taking the breakfast items and retreating back into Sonic's room, where the hedgehog in question was still sleeping. When Mario shut the door however Sonic stirred, opening his eyes and smiling when he noticed Mario.

"Hey," he greeted sleepily, sitting up before frowning at the apple in Mario's hands. "Lemme guess... Tails wanted you to give me that apple, right?"

 _"Sì,_ he thought you should be eating healthier. Though I think we all know that's probably not happening anytime soon."

Sonic snickered as Mario sat down next to him, taking the apple from his hands. "Eh, even though fruit ain't my favourite food in the world, I'll still eat it. I'm starving."

"No surprise there," Mario responded, taking a small bite of toast. "Look at what you've been through this past day."

"So did Tails find out where Egghead went?"

"He's apparently still here in the Mystic Ruins in another base. So we won't have to go far to counterattack."

"Good. I'm gonna make sure he's gonna regret attacking; not just this time, but every time before that. Plus, I have the added knowledge that I'm also avenging my mom." Sonic went quiet after that statement, thinking. "I guess I've been unintentionally avenging her this entire time."

"Is it going to be difficult fighting Eggman knowing that he's your father?" Mario asked, Sonic shaking his head and taking a bite out of the apple.

"No. We may be related by blood, but that's where the relation ends. As far as I'm concerned, I have no father."

Mario's blood chilled at that statement, and even though he knew Sonic had every right to say that he didn't exactly like the tone he was using. Sonic sounded too calm, too nonchalant about the situation. And while he knew and admired the fact that Sonic had nerves of steel when it came to quite a lot of things, he felt it was a bit inappropriate in this sort of situation.

"You okay Mar?"

Mario looked Sonic in the eye, knowing that he should ask Sonic what he was exactly going to do when he faced Eggman.

 _"Sì,_ I'm just fine."

* * *

 _ **Replies**_

 **TheGameNguyener:** Well, at least one escape was successful. As for Alison though... And yeah, I think anyone in that situation would be concerned and want to do anything they could to help, and even though Sonic was being stubborn about it he secretly was really grateful. Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **LEGOSonicCraggerFan:** Yes, Sonic's breaking the fourth wall ability strikes again. When I was initially writing the characters for the first story I'd contemplated Mario knowing about the fourth wall too considering there's been some subtle fourth wall breaking in some Mario games, but in the end I decided to leave it out of his character to have more contrast with Sonic. Besides, it's fun to have Mario think that Sonic's just crazy sometimes. I'm glad it's still a source of amusement. Thank you for the review!

 **TemUltimate:** No, Eggman's grandfather created Shadow, technically making Shadow Sonic's great uncle, and thus Sonic would be Shadow's great nephew. Thank you for the review!

* * *

 **AN: The book Mario is reading is indeed a reference to a game released on the GameCube back in 2002, _Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem._ And the stories that Red was telling Pit and Sonic are references to some infamous Pokémon creepypasta that I'm sure many of you have heard of even if you're not in the Pok** **émon fandom. I wasn't intending to post this chapter on Halloween, but since it had those elements in it I decided to just roll with it. And speaking of Halloween, if you're heading out tonight stay safe, and I'll see ya in the next one!**

 **~Steel**


	10. Infiltration

**AN: And happy _Sonic Forces_ launch day everyone. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 _ **Italics**_ **= Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Ten: Infiltration~  
_

 _Robotnik lowered his aircraft to the ground, stepping out of it and glancing around the destroyed ruins of what was his lair. No matter. All of the information worth salvaging from it had been downloaded into SA-55's database, and he already had a few robots working on another lair elsewhere._

 _He'd seen Operation Needlemouse escape in an airplane, and he contemplated on what he should do. He hadn't seen Alison in the cockpit, so chances were good that she hadn't survived the self-destruction sequence. A shame, but at least this way she wouldn't be able to tell anyone what she had seen here._

 _But Operation Needlemouse was still out there somewhere, and even though he was only a child he could still manage to reveal sensitive information. With that Robotnik snapped his fingers and SA-55 floated to his side, gazing up at his master with curiosity._

 _"Operation Needlemouse has escaped," Robotnik started. "Send robots after him, with orders to kill."_

 _"Yes, sir."_

/~/

Eggman's new lair was in the jungle, and as the group wandered through the dense cluster of trees Sonic glanced around, memories of Tikal and the Echidna Tribe flooding his mind as he spied the old temple off in the distance. He was having a hard time believing Eggman had built another lair here, hadn't he done enough damage to this area already? Shaking his head in disgust, his eyes turned to Tails who had taken the lead of the group since he knew where Eggman's lair was. Beside Sonic was Mario, who kept glancing around taking the new scenery in. He couldn't help but lightly chuckle at his boyfriend's awe, it was rather endearing to see him so excited even when they were minutes away from battle. Directly behind them were Luigi, Peach and Daisy quietly discussing battle tactics as were Silver and Amy. Knuckles, Blaze and Yoshi remained silent at the back of the group, though Sonic knew they were most likely thinking about battle strategies as well.

"We're near Big's shack," Amy commented as the group passed by a path by the stream. "I wonder if he's doing alright."

"I'm sure he's fine." Sonic responded. "He's probably fishing with Froggy, completely oblivious to the danger. Not that that's really a bad thing, I wouldn't mind being oblivious to danger at some points."

"I think we all would." Mario commented. "But thanks to what we are, that's not going to happen anytime soon."

Silence fell over the group, and remained until Tails paused and pointed to a cliffside. "There. Eggman's lair is there."

"Alright, so we should probably go over some sort of strategy..." Mario began, before noticing Sonic rolling his eyes. "What?"

"Let's just go in an' start smashin' things!"

"That's not always a solution to everything," Knuckles grumbled. "Remember what happened last time you smashed first and asked questions later. You nearly destroyed the entire world!"

Sonic went quiet, and motioned towards Mario to continue strategizing even though he clearly didn't want to listen. Mario nodded and turned towards the group.

"So I feel like staying in groups may be our best chance here. Silver, Amy and Blaze; you'll be group one. Peach, Knuckles and Yoshi; you'll be group two. And me, Sonic, Tails, Luigi and Daisy will be group three. Any questions?"

"Can we start?" Sonic asked impatiently, tapping his foot and looking annoyed. Mario sighed in exasperation.

"Yes Sonic, we can start now."

"An' there's no barrier around this lair?" Sonic directed at Tails, who shook his head.

"Nope, we can go right in and start wrecking havoc."

"Just what I wanted to hear." Sonic smirked, curling into a spindash and breaking the door down, an alarm going off the moment he uncurled. "Let's get some revenge!"

The group immediately rushed in, being greeted with several fleets of robots who had responded to the alarm. Splitting off into their groups, the battle began.

Silver held a pack of robots in place with his telekinetic powers as Amy smashed them with her hammer and Blaze engulfed them in an inferno of flames. Knuckles went hands-on with the robots, breaking through them using nothing but his brute strength as Peach used her gift of white magic to explode the robots with nothing but prayer. Yoshi meanwhile used his eggs to take on the robots.

Finally, the main group was farther up ahead thanks to having the advantage of two extra members. Luigi and Daisy combined their lightning and flower powers to create a huge explosion that was capable of taking out large numbers of robots at once. Tails took to the air, catching enemies off-guard by dive-bombing them.

But of course the two in the lead were Mario and Sonic, one of them keeping the robots distracted while the other finished them off. They moved in sync leaving nothing but explosions in their wake, having practiced battle strategies with each other during their time at the Smash Mansion. No words were spoken between them; they communicated through a series of nods and side-glances, making quick work of everything thrown their way.

"That Blaster is pretty handy," Sonic commented when him and Mario had a short pause in action.

"It is. I wonder if Master Hand would let me use it as an alternative in the next Smash tournament."

"Somethin' tells me that it's just a one-off thing, I don't think any references would be made to it in the future, just like how the Olympics are never mentioned in our main series games."

Mario shook his head in confusion as yet another wave of robots came after them. Mario noticed how Sonic was eyeing where they came from, and tilted his head in the general direction.

"Go take on Eggman. I've got things here."

"You sure?" Sonic asked, landing a homing attack on a Crabmeat.

" _Sì_ , I've got it covered, and besides, I have backup. Good luck."

Sonic snickered. "You always say 'Leave luck to Heaven.'"

"This time I think you'll need more than Heaven's luck," Mario responded grimly, blasting through a Beebot. "Eggman seems intent on destroying all of us this time."

"Not if I have anythin' to say about it!" Sonic turned heel and began sprinting down the long hallway. "I'll be back soon!"

"Be careful..." Mario whispered, even though Sonic was out of earshot. He then grit his teeth and stared down his enemies, charging his Blaster. "So who wants to be first?"

/~/

Sonic's footsteps echoed loudly on the metal floor as he ran, destroying any robots that got in his way. He was focused on one thing and one thing only - find Eggman and make him pay for everything he'd done. Smashing through a security robot he made his way to the back of the lair; a circular room where Eggman was waiting for him.

"Hello, _son."_ he sneered upon seeing Sonic, Sonic glaring at the doctor with disgust.

"Hello, _father,"_ he shot back in the same tone, his glare not wavering in the slightest. "What, too afraid to come fight all of us, so you sent your minions out to do your work for you?"

"No, I just wanted to have the honor of personally destroying you one-on-one."

"Oh yeah? 'Cause that's exactly what I was thinkin'. Like father, like son, huh?"

"Enough of your talk, hedgehog." Eggman muttered, snapping his fingers and his aircraft lowering into the room. "Let's settle this once and for all."

Eggman's aircraft hovered above Sonic, a familiar wrecking ball suspended from a chain dropping out of the bottom of it. Sonic narrowed his eyes, he'd been up against this before and he certainly wasn't going to fail now. The only issue was that there were no ledges for him to jump up onto to actually homing attack into Eggman's aircraft. Meaning he needed to come up with a new sort of strategy.

Eggman swung the wrecking ball at him and Sonic jumped out of the way, realizing that he could probably leap up on top of the wrecking ball. He waited until Eggman swung at him again to leap into action, springing up and just managing to make it, clinging to the chain as he glared up at Eggman who was fuming at Sonic's new tactic. In a single motion Sonic curled into a ball and lept into the air, slamming into Eggman's aircraft causing a few mechanical parts to fly out.

"Don't think you've won yet!" Eggman called to Sonic, who simply placed a hand on his hip and snickered.

"That's what you think. I had this thing won before I even entered the room."

Eggman scowled, pressing a button on the control panel in front of him. A familiar vehicle featuring a drill on the front of it burst into the room, Eggman lowering his aircraft into the seat and going after Sonic.

Sonic quickly dodged out of the way, before jumping and curling in order to attack Eggman's aircraft. Eggman retaliated by launching the drill out in front of him, Sonic narrowly avoiding getting skewered before attacking again, the vehicle falling apart and black smoke beginning to come out of the exhaust of the aircraft.

"That's as far as you're gonna go with tryin' to kill me," Sonic muttered darkly. "Now it's my turn."

Before Eggman had a chance to react Sonic had violently spindashed into the side of Eggman's aircraft, the entire thing toppling and knocking Eggman onto the ground. In a flash Sonic was in front of him, stepping on his chest and glaring down at the man beneath him.

"You're about to regret everythin' you've put my friends and family through," Sonic started, a sadistic grin gracing his face. "Starting with the first thing - capturing innocent animals!"

Sonic stomped his foot down onto Eggman's chest, feeling a bone break beneath his foot and snickering in satisfaction as Eggman hissed in pain. "Next, this is for putting my mom through hell and keeping her imprisoned in your lair for nine years!"

Sonic delivered a swift punch to Eggman's face, smirking when he noticed blood dripping from his mouth. Reaching behind him Sonic wrapped his fingers around a sharp broken piece of a robot, and with a bloodthirsty look in his eyes held it above Eggman's heart.

"And this... is for everythin' else."

Eggman took in the look on Sonic's face, noticing how much Sonic resembled him in that moment. It was almost twisted as he felt a sick surge of pride flare in his chest at the revelation. Sonic still had that sadistic grin on his face, as he uttered two words.

" _Sayonara, father."_

/~/

Mario grit his teeth as he dodged out of the way of a robots laser blast, retaliating with his own weapon which made quick work of the robot. The lair fell silent, and Mario blinked as he glanced around, seeing no more robots around.

"Did we do it?" he questioned, Tails checking his Miles Electric and nodding in confirmation.

"We sure did. No more robots are appearing on the radar, but just in case I think we should stay in two groups. One stays behind in case of more attacks, and the other goes to help Sonic out. So Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy, you come with me, and the rest of you stay here. Got it?"

After receiving confirmation nods from everyone, Tails began to lead his group towards the back of the lair where Eggman and Sonic were. As they got closer they could hear muffled sounds of battle, and Mario quickened his pace wanting to help Sonic out in any way he could. When they all reached the circular room, Mario froze at the sight in front of him.

 _"Sonic!"_

Sonic turned, the broken piece of robot still held above Eggman's heart as he frowned at Mario, not understanding why he looked so panicked. Before he knew it he'd suddenly been pulled away from Eggman by Mario, the piece of robot falling from his hands as he struggled in his grasp.

"Let me go, _let me go!"_

 _"No!"_ Mario hissed. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Gettin' my sweet revenge!" Sonic answered, still trying to struggle out of Mario's grasp. "Just two seconds and everythin' will be fine!"

Mario was having a hard time holding onto Sonic with how much he was wiggling. "Peach!"

Peach seemingly already knew what Mario was asking of her, and clasped her hands together before twirling in a hypnotic dance, Sonic's eyes falling shut as he fell limp in Mario's arms. The group began to retreat, Peach taking one final look at Eggman.

"You're lucky we showed up when we did. Otherwise you'd be dead right now. Remember that next time you try to launch an attack."

With that Peach hurried out of the room, leaving Eggman alone and broken on the ground.

* * *

 ** _Replies_**

 **TheGameNguyener:** Then I recommend you stay far away from that game then, 'cause even I got scared by it and I love horror. I do understand the 'Nope' aspect though, I'm like that with certain things too. Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **LEGOSonicCraggerFan:** Yes, _'sì'_ means yes in Italian and also Spanish. Thank you for the review!

 **Pamitydesu01:** It's crazy how similar Spanish and Italian are to each other. It's really cool! Thank you for the review!

 **TemUltimate:** No problem! Thank you for the review!

* * *

 **AN: Two chapters left! And boy am I _still_ not done with our protagonists yet. Poor Sonic and Mario... anyway, I hope you liked this one, and see you in the next one.  
**

 **~Steel**


	11. Fallout

**AN: And just to change things up a bit, I think for these last couple of chapters I'm going to respond to the reviews at the start of the chapter. Just makes things a bit more interesting in my book.**

* * *

 ** _Replies_**

 **TheGameNguyener:** Well, in Mario's mind he made the right decision, but we'll just have to see if Sonic agrees with him or not. Thank you for the review!

 **Pamitydesu01:** Honestly, Sonic surprised me a bit as well. My original outline for that chapter went in a different direction, but once I started writing it became clear what Sonic wanted to do. Once again, his impulsiveness got the better of him. Thank you for the review!

 **MeoTheRandom:** Nope, no Dark Sonic here, just years of pent up rage at it's boiling point. Thank you for the review!

 **TemUltimate:** That's one way of putting it! Thank you for the review!

* * *

 ** _Italics_ = Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Eleven: Fallout~_

 _Maurice wasn't sure how long he'd been flying before he heard a sound behind him, and turning found robots coming after him. Robotnik's doing. It had to be.  
_

 _Maurice bit his lip and tried to avoid the onslaught, but the robots were too quick; they advanced on him and swarmed around the plane, destroying the wings and sending Maurice spiraling towards the ocean below. Maurice gripped the wheel, tried to do anything, but he crashed into the ocean; the robots still there as he surfaced and continued their vicious attack.  
_

 _Maurice struggled to stay afloat, but the robots weren't making it easy for him. After a few moments of wild thrashing he managed to pull himself up onto one of the wings of the plane, in his young mind hoping that if he somehow made it back to the cockpit that he'd be able to fend off the robots.  
_

 _Wishful thinking. One of the robots seized him and Maurice yelped, struggling in it's grasp._

 _A sharp pain suddenly blossomed in the back of his head, and the last thing he felt before his eyes fell shut was warm liquid trickling down his spines and the robot releasing it's grasp on him, letting him fall into the ocean below._

 _"TARGET: ELIMINATED"_

/~/

 _From an island not very far away, several small animals had watched the battle unfold, gasping in horror as they saw the little hedgehog crash into the ocean._

 _"We need to help him!" a pig exclaimed._

 _"I'm on it!" a squirrel replied, making her way to the shoreline. "Ecco! We need your help!"_

 _After a moment a dolphin surfaced, chirping at the squirrel._

 _"Can you go get the hedgehog and his plane and bring him to shore please?"_

 _Ecco nodded, momentarily diving back into the water before resurfacing next to the plane wreckage. Using his nose he pushed the broken plane and hedgehog over to the shore, where the squirrel let out a sigh of relief._

 _"Thank you, Ecco."_

 _Ecco chirped in acknowledgement before disappearing back into the waves, the squirrel making her way over to the hedgehog. Several of her friends joined her with concerned looks._

 _"Poor thing."_

 _"What do we do?"_

 _"I think I'll be able to fix his plane!"_

 _The squirrel sighed and turned to look at her friends. "I think we have to wait for him to wake up." was all she said, before her eyes turned back to their unexpected guest._

/~/

No words had been spoken between Mario and Sonic since their retreat from Eggman's lair. Shortly after Sonic had woken up he'd found a gold ring tossed at him so he could heal, and that was the only acknowledgement Mario had given him before he went to tend to the others. He knew that Mario was pissed at him, and the feeling was mutual as Sonic sat with his arms folded, waiting for the inevitable lecture he was about to get.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Mario stepped into the room a moment later, shutting the door behind him and folding his arms as he considered the correct words to say to Sonic.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he finally questioned, looking Sonic in the eye. "What were you thinking, about to kill Eggman like that?"

"What was I thinkin'?" Sonic repeated, hands balling into fists. "I was thinkin' that I could get rid of him once an' for all, an' then my world would be at peace! Is that really so much to ask for?!"

"There are better ways to deal with that situation than outright killing him," Mario continued in an even tone. Sonic scowled, before violently shaking his head.

"Enlighten me then. What good would come of Eggman still being alive?"

"It's not the matter of him still being alive," Mario explained. "It's the guilt you'd feel after killing him, especially since you're related by blood. You wouldn't be able to handle that kind of guilt Sonic. I would know, because we're very much alike and I feel guilt over having to kill Goomba's and Koopa Troopa's."

Sonic was silent for a moment, considering Mario's words. After what seemed like an eternity, Sonic finally managed to utter two words.

"...You're wrong."

Mario blinked. "What?"

"You don't feel any sort of guilt over killing Bowser's minions. If you did, you wouldn't keep doin' it. So you must get some sort of satisfaction from doin' it."

Mario could safely say that he wasn't expecting that kind of a response from Sonic. He shook his head. "Are you questioning my morals?"

"Yeah actually, I am." Sonic challenged, glaring at Mario. "You're going on and on about how I'm so awful because I tried to kill Eggman, not realizing that you're bein' a damn hypocrite 'cause you do the exact same thing!"

"I've never tried to kill Bowser!" Mario defended, while Sonic just snorted.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize that dunkin' someone in lava meant anythin' else. My mistake."

Mario scowled, hands balling into fists. "I never intended to do that. Even though Bowser is my mortal enemy, I'd never intentionally kill him. It would leave his children orphaned, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I took their only parent away from them."

"But if Bowser didn't have children?"

Mario groaned in frustration. "I'd still feel guilty! Why the hell are you arguing with me?"

"Because I'm outright pissed at you right now for lettin' Eggman survive. And also, how the hell do you know that I'd feel guilty over killin' him, huh? You don't know me!"

Those last four words felt like a slap in the face to Mario. He blinked, staring at Sonic in disbelief. "No, I guess I don't," he numbly muttered. "Because the Sonic I knew at least had a rational mind. The Sonic I knew would never stoop so low. I know you've just learned the terrible truth behind your childhood, but to change your morals based on it? No, you're not the Sonic I knew, and you're not the Sonic I fell in love with either."

"Then maybe we shouldn't be in this relationship."

Mario's blood turned to ice, and he lowered his eyes to the floor. "...I guess we shouldn't be." he quietly whispered in defeat. "Since I apparently don't know you at all. I thought we were a team, you and I, but I can add that to the list of things I was wrong about."

"Yeah, I guess you were then. And apparently I was wrong in thinkin' that you were on my side." Sonic unclasped the necklace Mario had given him and tossed it on the ground, Mario blinking back tears he felt bunching in his eyes as he bent down to pick it up.

"So this is it then? We have one fight and you want to break up?"

"We didn't just fight Mario. We clearly have differing morals an' if we can't work through it then we shouldn't be together. Simple as that."

"But... _ti amo."_

Sonic flinched. "Yeah... I thought I did too."

The tears that Mario had been holding back began to slip down his cheeks, and without another word he left the room and into the living room where he found his brother. "We're leaving."

"What? Bro, what happened?"

"We just broke up, and there's no reason for us to be here anymore. Get everyone together and let's just go home."

/~/

"So what do we do?"

Luigi could only shrug at Tails. "I don't know. Did you get a clear answer out of Sonic as to why they broke up?"

"No, I couldn't get it out of him." Tails twirled the coin in his fingers. "So when you get back to the Mushroom Kingdom, you make sure to get the ring from Professor E. Gadd, and keep it hidden from Mario for the time being. That way we and everyone else can still stay in contact, even if our brothers aren't on the best terms."

"Right." Giving Tails a sad smile, Luigi headed towards the transporter where Mario was already waiting with his head down and his arms folded. The other residents of the Mushroom Kingdom were saying goodbye to their friends before slowly wandering over to the transporter and glancing at Mario with worry. Tails made his way over and placed the coin on the metal plate, hesitating for a moment before pulling the lever. The device crackled to life and Tails waved to Luigi, the blinding white light engulfing all of them before they disappeared back to their dimension.

From the stairs Sonic watched them leave, a cold chill spreading through his veins as he silently retreated back into his room, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling in his stomach.


	12. Memories of a Better Time

**AN: I don't feel like waiting until next week to post the finale. So here it is now. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

 ** _Replies_**

 **TheGameNguyener:** I agree, Mario could have been less aggressive with how he started his lecture. Mistakes were made by both of them, but neither one of them were exactly level-headed at that point either. Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **TemUltimate:** Thank you for the review! **  
**

 **Pamitydesu01:** I'm not gonna lie, it did hurt writing that chapter a bit since I spent so much time actually getting them together. But, it had to be done. Thank you for the review!

 **LEGOSonicCraggerFan:** Interesting theory. Thank you for the review!

* * *

 ** _Italics =_ Flashback**

* * *

 _~Chapter Twelve: Memories of a Better Time~  
_

 _Date night was a rather unorthodox thing for them. While most couples in the mansion would watch a movie or head out to Smash Plaza for dinner, Mario and Sonic took to the training room to hone their abilities. After all, if anyone could notice flaws in the others attack pattern, it would be them._

 _"How was that?" Sonic asked Mario, setting the Sandbag back up and waiting for feedback. Mario pondered on the question for a moment before rising from the bench and wandering over to the Sandbag.  
_

 _"Good..." he began. "But there's still room for improvement. For example, instead of using a homing attack after spindashing, how about using a double punch and kick combo?"  
_

 _"I hadn't even thought about that..." Sonic mumbled, backing up so he could try Mario's strategy. "Get outta the way, otherwise you're gonna get spindashed."_

 _Mario stepped back from the Sandbag as Sonic backed up, launching into his signature move and colliding with the Sandbag, uncurling and delivering a couple of punches and ending with a kick that knocked the Sandbag back a couple of feet.  
_

 _"Oh wow, that did a lot of damage," Sonic marveled, clearly surprised. "How did you know that would be more effective?"  
_

 _Mario could only shrug. "I've been watching your battle style, and figured you needed to go a bit more hands-on with your enemy instead of relying on your quills."_

 _Sonic quirked an eyeridge. "Huh, I never really thought about my battle style that way before. Thanks!"_

"Prego," _Mario replied, before eyeing the Sandbag. "Now it's my turn."  
_

 _Mario eyed the Sandbag with determination, before racing forward intending to slide into it before using a Super Jump Punch and finishing with a fireball. Before he could execute the strategy however, he found himself tackled to the ground by Sonic, his arms pinned above his head._

 _"Sonic, what-"_

 _He was cut off by a soft kiss, Sonic snickering before standing and helping Mario up. "Sneak attack," was all he said, Mario blinking before sighing and shaking his head, slightly amused._

 _"I should have seen that one coming."_

 _"Shoulda, coulda, didn't," was Sonic's reply. "But now you'll know for next time." Clapping his hands together, Sonic stood off to the side and motioned towards the Sandbag. "Now enough distractions from me. I'll let you know what you need to improve."  
_

/~/

The sheets smelled like Mario.

It was driving Sonic completely mad. Every time he tried to fall asleep Mario's familiar scent would find it's way to his nose, bringing every memory between them up to the surface. Eventually it got to the point where he completely snapped, stripping the bed of all it's sheets and discarding the pillow cases on the floor.

Great, now he was cold. But it was better than reliving all of the memories they'd made together that didn't actually mean anything anymore. His eyes fell onto the picture of them pinned on the wall next to the bed, and scowling ripped it from it's spot and tossed it under his bed. He didn't want to look at it right now.

Why did he feel like this? So he didn't have a boyfriend anymore, that shouldn't matter, right? He had way more important things to focus on than a relationship anyway, like taking care of Eggman. Besides, this gave him time to reflect on Mario's negative traits; tiny reasons that may have led to them breaking up in the future like... like...

...

Sonic's mind drew a blank as he tried to think about something, _anything,_ that Mario had done wrong in their relationship, but nothing came up. Sure, they had snarked at each other simply because it was the nature of their friendship, and they'd still kept their rivalry alive, but Mario had been nothing but good to him. Sonic's heart twinged but his stoic mask didn't crack, even as more memories began to play through his mind. How he'd play the guitar and quietly sing as Mario fell asleep on his shoulder, how he'd find Mario asleep in the Smash Mansion's library and since he looked so peaceful he'd grab a blanket and drape it over both of them before falling asleep next to him.

Sitting up Sonic's gaze fell onto the blankets he'd discarded in a heap and his heart ached again; it reminded him of the blanket forts he and Mario used to make. He violently shook his head in order to wipe those thoughts from his mind, but everything was reminding him of Mario. Why was everything reminding him of Mario?

 _'Because,'_ a little voice in his mind spoke. ' _You didn't just lose your boyfriend. You lost one of your best friends as well.'_

Sonic's face drew a blank, his mouth going dry and a chill shooting through him as he tried not to think about the fact he'd lost the one person he told everything to. Things not even Tails knew. Things that he thought he'd take to the grave with him, and in turn Mario had shared his own secrets, things he'd never told Luigi. They'd trusted each other, and now... that... was... _gone..._

 _'I need to get out of here.'_

Silently, Sonic began to zip around the room, stuffing a few keepsakes in his quills as he passed by them. He briefly considered taking his guitar, but realized it would be more of a hindrance to him if he brought it with him. It would still be here when he came back after all.

Sonic opened the door to his room as quietly as he could, and crept down the hallway to Tails' room. He cracked open the door and peeked inside, relieved when he found Tails fast asleep in his bed.

"I'll be back soon, buddy," Sonic whispered. "I just need to leave for a bit."

With that Sonic shut the door and headed out into the cool night, a light breeze ruffling his quills. He didn't need to think about where he was going to go, he already had a destination in mind.

He was going to go home. Home to Green Hill.

/~/

Dr. Eggman lay in a hospital bed in another lair, recovering from his broken rib while deep in thought. He was aware that at some point Orbot had brought in his dinner, but he hadn't touched it. He wasn't hungry.

His thoughts were focused on Sonic, and how he'd nearly managed to kill him. Eggman had to admit that he was surprised by that level of violence coming from him; and intrigued all the same. Though it did carry the disturbing implication that Sonic's grip on his morals was loosening. Meaning he may try and kill him again.

He couldn't let that happen. He needed something to counterattack, something that was sure to destroy Sonic first before he had the chance to destroy him once and for all. Something powerful, something destructive.

Something... _infinite._

 _~End~_

* * *

 **AN: I'm so sorry to anyone who expected a happy ending. But I didn't want a happy ending this time, I wanted something different. Anyway, I want to thank you guys so much for reading this story and for the positive reception, and also I had an absolute blast reading your reactions to certain things in the story. It's safe to say I got the exact reactions I wanted to get out of certain scenes, and as a writer there is no greater feeling. So thank you.**

 **Mario and Sonic's story doesn't end here however; I have plans for more stories about them, but first I need to finish _Throughout the Years._ That's my main priority at this moment, and I'm not going to start any more multi-chaptered projects until that one is finished. I may post some various oneshots though if I get inspired.**

 **Anyway, thank you again for reading, and I hope I see you in the reviews in my future projects!**

 **~Steel**

 **P.S: Hey, if you liked this story, check out it's small sequel _Over!_**


End file.
